Her Choice
by Snavej
Summary: Not all choices in life are pleasant ones, but Mai knew she had made the right decision. Or had she...? [Rated M for sensitive issues]
1. Chapter 1

Mai knew it had been the right decision, but right now, she felt awful. Physically, she felt violated, empty and rather sore. Mentally… She did not even know where to begin.

But it had been the right decision, now was not the right time in her life for those things to happen. She wasn't stable enough, financially or mentally for those things to happen.

She now had two days of rest before she would have to be back at work, though she suspected she could probably get a third day if she wanted. Part of her wanted to go to work right now, to pretend it had never happened. The rest of her just wanted to cry.

Mai slipped the two week check-up appointment card into her pocket and started to walk down the street. She could have got the bus, but she wanted to walk home. It wasn't far and it was a beautiful spring day.

Spring, the time of new life.

But not for Mai.

She could see some school children walking home together, and flowers blooming in the parks. She could see smiles and laughter. She wanted to smile too, but her mouth seemed unable to respond.

How could she smile now? When she had just…

When Mai arrived home, she felt exhausted, despite the walk only taking 20 or so minutes. She desperately wanted a bath, but she had been warned against such things, so took a shower instead.

After that, she climbed into bed with a bar of chocolate and her laptop, hoping to watch a film before sleeping. Hoping that a film would distract her from the guilty thoughts rushing though her head.

It was going to be a long two days.

Two days later, Mai arrived at work with a letter clutched in her hand. She had had her doctor write her a note excusing her from all forms of exercise for 2-4 weeks, though she had emitted the reason.

Mai took a deep breath before knocking on Oliver's office door.

"Enter." His calm voice said. Mai walked in and closed the door behind her; she walked over to the desk and placed the letter down in front of him. "What is this?" He asked, picking it up with a slight frown.

"It is a letter from my doctor. I cannot do any exercise or lifting for two to four weeks."

"Which is it?"

"Huh?"

"Two or four weeks?"

"Well I have an appointment in two weeks, so I can see if I'm okay to do exercise then." Mai said, she had yet to look at her boss, but was staring at a stain on his desk. It looked like split tea, but she wasn't sure.

"You realise this means you are essentially useless on any cases we take?" Oliver said coldly. "If you can't lift any equipment, or run when you get into trouble…" He trailed off, sighing. "You may as well have two weeks off." He added resignedly.

"No!" Mai protested. "Please, I need to do something, I need to work!"

"I would still pay you." Oliver rolled his eyes.

"No it's not that… I just need to keep busy." Mai said quickly, trying to hold back the tears. "I can still make you tea and watch the monitors and write things up or something…" She wiped her eyes and finally looked up at her boss. "Please…" She begged.

"Mai, if you cannot run from danger, you will be a liability."

"I'm a liability anyway." She said.

Oliver did not dispute this fact, but sighed once again.

"Fine, but on your own head be it." Oliver said. "Tea."

"Thank you." Mai turned and left the office.

Oliver opened the letter and read the contents, or rather, read the hiragana translation of what had been written that he assumed Mai had scribbled down the side for his benefit. Yet the letter did not hold the answer he craved: why was his assistant now partly useless?

He sighed and looked down at the case he planned to take, should he put it off if Mai wasn't right? It did not look like a serious case, or rather, not a violent case. Their potential customer believed that a ghost had been hiding his things, most commonly his glasses, toothbrushes and other everyday items. Normally, Oliver wouldn't have bothered with it, but two things had changed his mind. One, his father had been doing research into non-violent spirits and wanted some physical evidence. Two, the client himself had tried to video happenings and this willingness to accept modern methods had lead Oliver to believe that this client would not be difficult to deal with, as so many seemed to be.

Then again, if this was a non-violent case, then perhaps it would be a good choice while Mai wasn't capable of much. It would provide suitable distraction for her and would provide evidence for his father. A win-win situation.

He was just about to pick up the phone to contat the client and inform him of the decision to take the case, when he heard a smashing sound. Normally, he would have ignored it, but Lin was out and Mai had been upset earlier; so Oliver got up from his desk and walked to his office door.

Upon opening the door, he heard a soft weeping. Mai was crying.

Frowning, Oliver made his way to the kitchen to find Mai sat on the floor, hugging her knees and crying. Beside her was a smashed mug. Oliver picked up the dustpan and brush and cleared up the mess.

"I'm sorry." She sobbed. Oliver did not reply, but pulled out a new mug and poured out two cups of tea from the teapot. He then passed one mug to Mai and stood beside her, nursing his own cup.

"I presume you do not want to talk to me about whatever it is that has happened." He said finally. "But if you would like me to call Ayako or someone else in this afternoon…"

"Ayako is at work." Mai sniffed. "I'll be fine. I'm sorry."

"I have some post I cannot read, I believe it's to do with tax or something of that sort, would you be able to write out the hiragana for me?" Oliver asked.

Mai looked up, shocked that Oliver had asked her to do something, as opposed to just telling her to do whatever he wanted.

"Yes." She replied meekly.

"Good." Oliver placed his now empty cup by the sink and held out his hand to Mai. She took it and he helped her to her feet. Oliver used his thumb to wipe her tears away, then gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze and left the kitchen.

Mai, still slightly shocked by his acts, washed up the mugs and then returned to her desk, where a stack of post was waiting for her to sort.

Meanwhile, in Oliver's office, he was waiting for Ayako to pick up. The thought had occurred to him that Ayako, as a doctor, might recognise the advice Mai's doctor had given her.

"Matsuzuki speaking?" Ayako answered the call.

"I need to know what these aftercare instructions mean." Oliver said, straight to the point.

"Naru? What are you talking about?"

"I have a list of aftercare advice and I need to know what the problem was in the first place, can you help me or not?"

"I can try."

"No swimming, running, horse riding, lifting or other exercise for two to four weeks." He said, reading from the letter. "And emotional, prone to being upset." He added, remembering Mai's earlier behaviour.

"Any sign of physical ailment?" Ayako asked, trying to reduce her mental list of probable problems.

"Nothing physical that I can see, so if there is, it would be hidden under clothing."

Ayako paused for thought.

"Who is this about?"

"I can't tell you that information."

"Male or female?"

"That would give you the information to work out who this was about."

"Well it's either Lin or Mai." Ayako reasoned. "I would hazard a guess at Mai, as any reason Lin would have had for these things he would have told you without embarrassment. Mai, on the other hand, would very much appreciate it if you left the situation alone and gave her an excuse for her current situation." Ayako paused for a moment and Oliver could hear her breathing heavily. "Get hold of a wrist support and an ankle support. Tell her to wear them until her problem has gone away, and then anyone asking about it will assume she had just hurt herself. Suggest that she tell people she fell down the stairs or something. I will phone her today and talk to her personally."

"But you won't tell me what it is?"

"It's a private matter and I imagine you would be the last person on this planet she would tell."

Oliver rolled his eyes.

"Fine."

"And don't you dare take any dangerous cases until she is better." Ayako scolded. "And be nice to her." Oliver rolled his eyes again.

"I will heed your advice, goodbye." He hung up. He would pick up the suggested items at lunchtime.

"What do you want for lunch?" Oliver asked as he pulled on his jacket.

"I'll just go and get something when you're back." Mai said automatically, not looking up from the letters that she was still sorting and writing out.

"No, I want you to watch the office; I will pick up your lunch." Oliver said with his face blank of all emotion.

"Just some sushi then please, or a takeaway bento box or something…" Mai mumbled.

"Do you need anything else?"

"No." Mai watched him leave, feeling suspicious, had Oliver worked it out? She hoped not.

When he returned he gave her some food and a small bag with a wrist support and an ankle support in it.

"If anyone asks, you can say that you fell down the stairs." He said, reiterating Ayako's suggestion. "So you have an excuse not to be carrying anything or running while on a case. I can tell Lin not to question it, but the others are bound to ask questions otherwise. We are taking a case tomorrow, but I have only invited Monk."

Mai could feel tears rising to her eyes again and she smiled in gratitude.

"Thank you."

"And if you wish to tell me what is wrong, I will listen." He said stiffly.

"Are you sure you're okay Naru?" Mai asked, almost laughing. "It isn't like you to be so-" But Oliver cut her off.

"My employee is unable to work to full capacity which is affecting my research and the cases we are able to take. I am right in wanting to speed up their recovery so I can get back to more important cases."

Mai fell silent. His words had felt like a slap to the face.

"I have finished these letters, what do you want me to do next?" She said dully, not looking up.

"Eat your lunch." Oliver said, picking up the letters adorned with Mai's scribbles. "Then check over the equipment for the case tomorrow and get all the relevant documents together. If you can't check something because it's too heavy, then take note of it and I will check it later." He returned to his office, and closed the door forcefully.

Mai burst into tears and pulled the food towards her. It was beautifully arranged sushi, maki and sashimi; which made Mai cry harder.

Then she felt her mobile vibrate in her pocket. Stifling her sobs, Mai pulled out her phone and answered it, trying to inject a cheerful tone into her voice.

"Hello?"

"Mai? It's me." Ayako said. "Look, Naru phoned me earlier with a list of things someone can't do and asked me what ailment had caused them. I figure out he was talking about you but didn't tell him my main suspicion, okay?"

Mai felt unable to speak.

"Did he get you the supports like I asked?"

"Yes…" Mai mumbled. "You know?"

"I could guess from the list he gave me, but I might've checked your record."

"I didn't think you were allowed to do that." Mai said quietly.

"So would you like me to come over later? We can just eat ice cream and watch movies?" Ayako ignored her question. "And if you want to talk about it, then that's fine too okay?"

"Okay." Mai agreed.

"Great, I will pick you up from the office at 5pm!" And she hung up.

Mai ate her lunch, the occasional tear running down her face. She hated feeling like this. One minute she was fine, the next minute she felt like her world had ended. Guilt racked her body and grief coursed through her like fire. The doctor had told her that her emotions would be all over the place for a while because of hormones and stuff, but she hadn't expected it to be this bad.

Once she had finished eating, Mai went to the loo to wash her face, put on the two support bandages and then began checking the equipment.

Ayako arrived at 4:45pm, glared at Oliver until he let Mai leave and took her home. Mai didn't talk as Ayako drove, so Ayako filled the silence with amusing tales from her day at work.

When they arrived at Mai's house, she let them in and made them both a cup of tea. Then they both sat down on the sofa and Ayako spoke.

"So tell me what happened."

**Author's note: This idea came from a review I read on my first FF. I would love to hear your reviews and ideas!**


	2. Chapter 2

"So tell me what happened."

Mai took a deep breath.

"It started a year ago I guess. I hadn't really tried to date or anything after…"

"After Naru rejected you and left?" Ayako supplied and Mai nodded.

"Keiko, from school, asked me if I wanted to go out dancing with her and a few of her friends. I wasn't sure about it at the time, but I decided to go and I had a great time." She said quietly. "So I went with them every Friday and then one week, a guy hit on me. It's not that I've never been hit on before, but this was different. This was purely physical and so I went home with him." Mai looked away, looking a little embarrassed. "It became a bit of a regular thing, most weeks I'd go home with a different guy, but they were all the same really. They were all…"

"Tall, dark and handsome?" Ayako suggested.

"Tall, black hair, blue eyes and a beautiful smile." Mai said sadly. "It's rather pathetic really but if it was dark enough I could pretend…" Then she laughed softly. "I even called one or two by his name, which was slightly awkward."

Ayako laughed too but didn't say anything; she knew Mai was close to the real problem.

"I always insisted on protection though, every time." She said earnestly. "But then my period didn't come. I thought it was just a one-off you know? I've read that it can happen. But a month later there was still nothing. So I took a test and…"

"You were pregnant."

Mai nodded.

"I went to my doctor and asked if I could get rid of it. I didn't feel ready for it, you know? I don't earn enough and every Friday night I go out and sleep with guys to try and get over my boss." Mai laughed bitterly. "My doctor agreed and set everything up and three days ago… I called in sick and then had the weekend off." She explained. "I went back to work this morning and I thought I'd be okay, you know? Yesterday I had felt fine, a little weak, but fine mentally. I gave Naru the letter my doctor had given me and then went to make tea and I dropped the mug and I just couldn't stop crying…" Mai felt tears coming to her eyes again. "Then he was really nice to me. Well, really nice for Naru anyway. But then after lunch he snapped at me about being useless and it's not my fault! It was an accident! I never meant it to happen!" Mai began sobbing and Ayako pulled her into a tight embrace.

"That idiot. I told him to be nice to you, not yell at you." Ayako hissed under her breath.

"I didn't want it to happen Ayako!" Mai wept. "I used protection every time and…"

"I know." Ayako stroked Mai's hair in an attempt to comfort the young woman.

They sat like that for a long time, Mai silently crying into Ayako's warm embrace, the older woman gently stroking her hair.

"I thought you said we could have ice cream?" Mai said finally and Ayako laughed. "I have some in the freezer; raspberry ripple."

"Sounds great." Ayako said. "How about you go get us two bowls of ice cream and I'll set up a film?"

Mai nodded and went to the kitchen, while Ayako started scouring the DVD collection.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Oliver had just arrived home. It had occurred to him while travelling home that he ought to inform Lin of the decision to take the case. He pulled his mobile out of his pocket and speed dialled Lin's number.

"Lin speaking."

"We are taking a case tomorrow, meet at the office at 8am." Oliver said concisely. "I know you wanted another day off, but Mai is injured so I need your help. You can bring Madoka if you want."

"Fine. Overnight bags?"

"Yes, I'll email you a summary of the case in a minute."

"Thank you. See you tomorrow."

Oliver hung up and pulled his laptop out of his bag. He emailed Lin the summary as he had said he would. Then he picked up a remote and turned on the sound system, selecting a mixed classical selection. After adjusting the volume, he headed for the kitchen; it was time to cook.

Not far from Oliver's apartment, Lin and Madoka were eating dinner in Lin's apartment. Lin had just finished reading out the summary for Madoka's benefit.

"So this is for Martin's research then?" Madoka guessed and Lin nodded his agreement. "And Mai's injured? What happened to her?"

"No idea, Noll didn't say. But she did have Friday off so can't have been that trivial. You can ask her tomorrow."

"I suppose it will add to the 'damsel in distress' air she has about her, you know, always getting into trouble…" Madoka mused. "But if this case is non-violent then how will we get Noll to save her…?"

Lin replied only by rolling his eyes.

"Though maybe we should try a new angle, he's saved her so many times it's become almost routine. We need something new to get him to confess his feelings for her…"

"Like what?" Lin asked, humouring his girlfriend.

"I don't know." Madoka frowned. "But I am not giving up on the pair of them. 'Mai Davis' just has too good a ring to it to give up." Lin laughed and continued eating.

As Ayako drove home, she thought about everything Mai had told her earlier that evening. What Mai really needed, was to get over Naru once and for all. But how do you get over a relationship that never really happened?

Ayako parked outside her apartment, locked her car and pulled out her mobile to call Monk.

"Hello?" He answered after the third ring.

"Operation: Help Mai get over Naru is a go." Ayako said as she walked up the stairs to her apartment. "The girl seriously needs help."

"And how exactly do you think we should do that?"

"I don't know yet, but help me and I will make it worth your while." Ayako could practically hear Monk grinning through the phone. "Also when you see Mai tomorrow, look after her okay? She fell down the stairs and was rather shaken up by it."

"Will do, night!"

The following morning, Mai surprised everyone by being the first one to the office, despite Oliver arriving 20 minutes early. Talking to Ayako had done a lot of good. She felt like she had gotten a weight off her chest and watching silly childish movies had made them both laugh.

Monk arrived at 8am on the dot, and had thrown himself into Mai's arms.

"Are you okay?!" He asked desperately as he picked her up in a bear hug. "The old hag said you'd fallen down the stairs!"

"I'm fine!" Mai protested through her laughter. She could feel Oliver glaring at the pair of them, but ignored him. When Madoka and Lin arrived a minute later, she had to spend another five minutes reassuring them that she was fine, just unable to do any form of exercise for a while.

Monk started to go overboard and offered to carry her around everywhere for the next two weeks, which genuinely made Mai laugh.

"Can we get going?" Oliver said finally, breaking up the frivolities. He climbed into the van with Madoka and Lin, while Mai joined Monk in his car.

The journey was not to be a long one, just under two hours, but Oliver was feeling restless only 20 minutes into the drive.

The reason he did not like watching TV or movies, was because Oliver could almost always tell when someone was acting; perhaps just because he was more observant than some.

However, it was for this reason that he was currently unhappy. Mai had managed to convince Madoka, Lin and Monk, but he not only knew it was a lie, but could see the pain in her eyes when she had said that she was fine.

He had spent more of the previous evening than he would like to admit trying to work out what was wrong with the girl, but none of the potential answers he had come up with could be fixed in as few as two weeks. Oliver had even contacted the medical insurance company that supplied Mai with her healthcare, but they hadn't received a request to pay for anything since the last time Mai had been in hospital as a result of a case. This meant Mai had paid for it out of her own pocket, but why? Healthcare was not cheap regardless of the procedure; even check-ups could be expensive. So Mai had to have really wanted to hide her ailment.

Oliver did not like not knowing something. Especially when it affected Mai, no, affected one of his employees so greatly. He had briefly thought of interrogating her about it, but Ayako had told him to be nice to the girl, which suggested some emotional upheaval. It was very frustrating.

Perhaps something of his thoughts had appeared on his face, as he realised that Madoka staring at him.

"Are you alright Noll?" She asked.

"Yes."

"What's got you so nettled then?"

Oliver replied with a glare, and then returned to gazing out of the window.

When they finally arrived, Oliver introduced the team to their client; Shimizu Yoji.

Shimizu in turn introduced them to his wife Satomi, who insisted they call her by her first name.

"Lin, Madoka and Monk please bring in the equipment. Mai, follow me." Oliver ordered. Everyone jumped to work and Oliver, with Mai by his side, followed Shimizu to the room they had prepared as a base. "Mai I want you to interview Satomi-san separately, I will interview Shimizu-san here." He pulled out a piece of paper with prompt questions and handed it to Mai.

Before Mai could invite Satomi to join her, a wailing sound emanated from a small white electronic device that Satomi had attached to the belt of her jeans.

"Sorry, the baby has woken up; perhaps you could interview me while I check on her?" Satomi suggested calmly as she turned the volume on the alarm down. Mai agreed, and the two women headed up a set of stairs.

At the very top of the house was the baby's room. It had sloped ceilings in the same shape as the roof. The parents had painted the walls so that the bottom half were green, like grass, and the top half was blue, like the sky. Every few feet was a rainbow or a cloud and in one corner was the sun.

Mai smiled at the effort they had put in for their daughter, who was wailing in a cot. There was a squishy old sofa of sorts that Satomi beckoned Mai to sit on and she complied. Mai watched as the woman picked up her baby and shushed her gently.

"She's hungry, do you mind if a breast feed?" Satomi asked, looking worried.

"Of course not, but how can you tell?"

"I once asked my mother the same thing, but when she cries, I just know. Sometimes she's hungry, other times she just wants comfort." Satomi said as she sat down on the other end of the sofa. "Yoji is completely clueless about it."

Mai felt slightly awkward watching Satomi half undress, so she looked down at the questions.

"So when did the events start?"

"About three months ago?" Satomi replied. "It was just after Sakura was born."

Mai mentally cursed herself for being so rude as to not asking the baby's name, but began scribbling down the response.

"Could you describe the events to me?"

"It started with my husband's glasses I think. He kept complaining that he'd put them down in one place and then found them somewhere else. Then it was my keys and other little things that you use every day. My toothbrush moved once." Satomi frowned and then readjusted Sakura at her breast. "But at the time I just thought I was being scatter brained. My mother had assured me that your mind is all over the place after having a baby, to do with hormones and having to reprioritise your daily life and stuff. But then the baby's things started moving. Dummies, bottles, nappies… You get the idea. That was then I started to get worried about it, because Sakura has been my entire focus for the last few months you see."

"And that's when you asked for help?"

"No, my husband set up our camcorder. He left his glasses out with the camera pointed at them." Satomi shivered. "When we saw the footage, they just slid by themselves. I demanded that we leave the house; I was convinced we were haunted. We went to my mother's house last weekend while Yoji contacted various organisations claiming they could help with supernatural events. But it happened at my mother's too, so we came back. I was so relieved when your boss said you'd take the case."

"I can imagine." Mai said sympathetically. "Can you think of any potential triggers for these events?"

"Not really, we lived in this house for several years with no problems. It's not an old house; my husband has the records somewhere."

"But everything started after Sakura was born?" Mai clarified.

"Yes." Satomi nodded. "You don't think she's in danger do you?"

"Unlikely." Mai smiled reassuringly. "My boss does not believe this case to be a violent one, more likely you'd just got a bored ghost hanging around causing minor trouble for its own amusement. It's actions seem rather childish to me."

The baby hiccupped and pushed away from her mother's breast. Satomi covered herself again and got to her feet.

"Shall we re-join the others?" She asked kindly. Mai nodded and got to her feet. Together they walked downstairs and into the base. Oliver had obviously finished interviewing Shimizu-san as he was holding a walkie-talkie and talking to one of the others as he watched the monitors.

"Yes, clear connection. Next." Oliver looked round. "Ah Mai. Take over here; I will set up more cameras if you can confirm they are operational. Anything from your interview that I should be aware of?"

"Put a camera in the baby's room." Mai said, taking the walkie-talkie from him. "I'll share the rest when everyone's back."

"Can I leave you now?" Satomi asked, still clutching her baby. "I was planning to go food shopping."

"Yes, of course!" Mai said cheerfully. Satomi smiled, bowed and left.

Once all the equipment was set up, Mai shared her findings with the group and Oliver gave her his notes from his interview to read. The two interviews matched up, which was a promising sign.

Mai spent most of the afternoon in front of the monitors. Once or twice she was called upon by Oliver to make tea. Although her focus was on the monitors, she couldn't help but idly doodle on the back of the interview sheet.

It was only when she noticed Oliver glaring at her that she realised that perhaps doodling on company documents was a bad idea. Sighing, she pulled out a new form and copied up her original notes.

There was nothing on the monitors all afternoon. Madoka and Lin disappeared for a while and came back with takeaway. After they'd eaten, Lin then took over the monitors and Mai walked out into the garden to stretch her legs. The sunset was beautiful. So Mai decided to watch it in its entirety.

Only when there was no light left, did she turn to return to the others. She was startled to find that Oliver had been standing behind her.

"Did you know that when we see the bottom of the sun touch the horizon, the sun has already set, but we still see it due to the light refracting through the atmosphere?" He said, not looking at her, but at the place where the sun had just disappeared.

"No, I didn't." Mai replied nervously. "Sorry for dragging you out here."

"You didn't. I wanted to talk to you alone." He said, and lowered his eyes to her face. "You did not use your company medical insurance for your ailment." It was a statement, so Mai did not say anything. "I understand that you don't want me to know what the problem is, but I would like to offer to pay for your treatment. I will add it as a sum to your wage this month."

"It's not like it's just you I don't want to know. I don't want anyone to know." Mai said, she could feel the blood rising in her cheeks.

"Yet Ayako knows."

"Only because you pointed out there was a problem in the first place!" Mai made to storm passed him, but he blocked her route.

"What of my offer?"

"I decline." Mai said, looking straight ahead.

"Don't be foolish."

"It's my choice."

"Mai." Oliver said warningly.

"What?" Mai turned and glared up at him, but he only sighed.

"Tea."

Mai huffed and stormed back into the house. She wasn't really angry that he had informed Ayako, if anything she was grateful for someone to talk to, but Oliver always managed to make her feel so riled up.

Meanwhile, Oliver continued to stare at the dark sky. He felt irritated that Mai would not accept his assistance, partially because the money meant nothing to him, but also because an indication of the price might help him work out her problem.

It occurred to him that perhaps that was why she rejected his help; he knew she was not as stupid as she sometimes appeared to be. Had he been in her situation he would have made up a figure, but Mai was too honest for that.

He sighed again and turned to head back into the house.


	3. Chapter 3

The following morning, Mai woke early and dressed. When she arrived in the kitchen, Satomi was already cooking breakfast.

"Hungry?" She asked cheerfully.

"Starving!" Mai replied and took a seat at the kitchen table. There was a small baby pen covered in blankets to the side of the table, where Sakura was waving fat fists up at Mai, who smiled and waved back.

The baby gurgled cheerfully, so Mai bent down beside the pen and started pulling faces at Sakura, who continued to giggle at her actions.

"You're a natural." Satomi said when she noticed what Mai was doing.

"Hardly." Mai scoffed and took the bowl of rice and eggs that Satomi was offering her. "Thank you for the food."

"No problem." Satomi sat down beside her with her own bowl. "It's nice not to be eating by myself to be honest. Yoji always is up early for work so I often eat alone." Satomi paused as if she was unsure of whether she could continue talking. "Say, when people die and become ghosts, are they restricted to one area?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are they stuck where they die? For example, if I died in this house, would I be stuck as a ghost in this house? Or could I go anywhere?"

"Well ideally you'd move straight on, but if you were stuck then-" But Mai was cut off.

"You'd be stuck in places that mean something to you." Oliver's voice came from the doorway. "Significant places or with significant people."

Mai glared at him.

"That's what I was about to say." She muttered under her breath. Oliver obviously heard and rolled his eyes.

"Please help yourself to food." Satomi said, gesturing to the food that was being kept warm in the pan.

"Thank you." Oliver said as he took some food and then sat down beside Mai, who was still pulling faces at the baby between mouthfuls. "Finally found someone on your level?" He said quietly, so only Mai could hear. She felt her cheeks reddening, but glared furiously at him.

"Jerk." She retorted and returned to her food.

"Have you taken a look at last night's feeds?" He asked.

"Not yet."

"I glanced at them before coming for breakfast; we have some interesting behaviour, particularly in the baby's room."

After they'd eaten, and before the others were even up, Mai and Oliver watched snippets of the footage they'd collected overnight. Oliver had taken the consecutive decision not to ask Satomi to join them, due to the nature of what was happening.

The thermal imaging footage showed that in the middle of the night, the baby had woken without crying, had sat up and appeared to be playing with several of the toys in her cot. This was shown by the warm patches on the screen. The slightly more concerning aspect, was the severely cooler areas at the other end of the cot.

"It looks like our ghost is playing with the baby." Mai said.

Oliver did not say anything, he agreed with Mai's hypothesis, but why would a being not move on, just to play with a baby? Unless…

"It's like I thought yesterday, I think the ghost is a child." Mai continued.

"We need to research the house's history." Oliver said finally.

"Satomi-san said that her husband had the history of the house somewhere." Mai said, remembering. "Perhaps that includes a list of previous owners; it might give us a place to start. But I'm sure she said the house wasn't that old."

They continued to watch the footage for a few more minutes.

"Was this the only activity?"

"Yes."

"Um, Naru?" Mai asked tentatively. "The room was dark when this happened right? So how can Sakura-chan see the toys? Or the ghost?"

"There has been some arguments amongst researchers that very young children can see more paranormal events than adults can." Oliver said. "My mother assisted on a test for it a few years ago. She was part of the committee discussing the ethics of testing and potentially frightening such young children."

"So it could be that mediums are just people that don't lose abilities that everyone has at a young age." Mai suggested. "Like how people lose the ability to hear really high noises?"

"Yes, I suppose it could be." Oliver said slowly, contemplating the idea. Young children had never really been his area of focus, but Mai's suggestion could contribute to his research on how paranormal abilities affect the brain and its structure.

The other's arrived a few minutes later and while Mai showed them the relevant footage and shared their ideas, Oliver went to ask Satomi for the house's documentation.

He spent the morning researching the previous owners with Lin's assistance. Mai and Madoka spent their time playing with Sakura, while Monk helped Satomi with some household chores she'd been unable to complete due to having no one to watch the baby.

Mai had mixed feelings about playing with Sakura; part of her almost felt regret at what she had done. If she hadn't she could have had a little someone who wanted to play with her all the time. But Mai couldn't forget the tired look in Satomi's eyes.

No, she thought finally, it was the right decision. Now was not the time for a child she could not give her full attention too. There were things she wanted before that, like a stable relationship with the father.

"Have you and Lin thought about having children?" She asked Madoka, who's long pink hair seemed to be extremely exciting to Sakura.

"We've talked about it." Madoka replied. "We'd both like them, but with us currently living in separate countries it's not really ideal."

"Won't BSPR let you move?"

"They would, but it'd reduce what I can research." Madoka said sadly. "Plus, I can't teach here really."

"And Lin won't leave Naru."

"No, Martin said that he'd find someone else to watch Noll, but I think Lin feels somewhat responsible for him. He's watched over him for so long."

"Like a brother."

"I guess so." Madoka smiled suddenly. "But when we're all sorted and settled, we did think about adopting. I mean there are so many children out there without families. If we can help one of them…"

"Yeah, adoption sounds like a good idea." Mai said, as Satomi and Monk joined them in the living room. Satomi gave the two women an odd look, before smiling.

"How is my little darling?"

"Very attached to pink hair." Mai said, laughing. Sakura giggled in agreement.

"Mai! Madoka! Monk! Activity in the bathroom!" A sudden shout from Oliver came through the open door. The three adults jumped into action and out of the door.

"Sorry, back in a moment!" Mai called over her shoulder.

In the base, the entire team watching as some unseen entity started picking up shampoo and conditioner bottles. The bottles seemed to float through the air to the sink, where the plug was knocked into the plug hole. The bottles them up-ended themselves so that their contents poured out into the sink. A toothbrush then floated out of its holder and started stirring the mixture.

"I used to do that as a child." Mai mumbled. "My mum always got angry when I did, but she didn't realise that I was making magic potions…"

"There is no such thing as magic." Oliver muttered dryly. "'Magic' is merely science that idiots don't understand yet."

Mai rolled her eyes but didn't bother to say anything.

"We should stop it." Monk pointed out.

"Well volunteered." Madoka said. "I'll come with you, hopefully if we just disturb the ghost it will stop."

The two left and the others watched on the monitors as they went up to the bathroom and knocked. The bottles fell out of the air as they entered the bathroom.

"I'll clear this up." Mai heard Madoka say through the speakers.

"Did you find anything about the past owners?" Mai asked Lin and Oliver.

"Nothing. Both previous owners were elderly couples, neither of which had children." Oliver said. "This implies that it must be a child that the client knows, or that perhaps visited the house at some point."

"Satomi-san didn't mention anything when I interviewed her." Mai said quickly.

"But adults lie about things that they don't wish to share." Oliver retorted, and Mai shrunk back a little, knowing that his words had been aimed at her as much as Satomi. "I will interview her again."

"No." Mai protested. "I won't let you talk to a client about dead children, you'll only upset her."

"If upsetting her gets us the answers we need-"

But Mai cut him off.

"I will interview her again and ask her about these things sensitively."

And before Oliver could say anything, Mai stormed out of the room.

"What have you done to her now?" Lin muttered, but Oliver ignored him.

Mai found Satomi in Sakura's room. When she saw Mai, she put a finger to her lips and gestured to the door.

Mai stepped back out into the hall and Satomi joined her a second later.

"Sorry." She whispered as she gently shut the door. "I've just put her down for a nap."

"Quite alright, I was hoping I could ask you a few more question?" Mai whispered back.

"Of course, follow me." Satomi led the way down the hall to her own bedroom. "I think I know what you are going to ask."

"You do?"

"Yes. I was thinking about telling you yesterday, but I was hoping it wasn't relevant."

"Is this something to do with the questions you asked at breakfast?" Mai asked.

"Yes, I guess so." Satomi sighed and gestured for Mai to sit down on the bed, before starting to rummage under the bed. She pulled out a small black box and handed to Mai. "Open it."

Mai did as she was told and opened the box. It was full of photographs of Satomi, Yoji and a small boy.

"Yoji and I had been trying for kids for a few years you see, and we were convinced that it was not God's plan to let us have our own children. So we looked into adoption." Mai remembered the look that Satomi had given her and Madoka when she had overheard them talking. "We visited an orphanage and introduced ourselves, and this little boy came running up to us and said 'my name is Yoji too' and we sort of fell in love with him." Satomi had no joined Mai on the bed, but remained sat on the floor, looking at her feet. "We started going through the process of adopting him. He was a delightful little boy, very curious and very polite. But then he fell sick."

Mai thought she could see where Satomi's story was going.

"How old was he when he died?" She asked.

"Five." Satomi said. "It was a week after the funeral that we found out I was pregnant with Sakura. I thought God had blessed us after losing one child."

The two women sat in silence for a few minutes as Mai flicked through the photographs.

"But shouldn't he have moved on?"

"Sometimes, children are easily distracted." Mai said kindly. "They don't realise they have died and don't follow the light. I think perhaps young Yoji followed you here. The footage we gained last night showed that he had woken Sakura-chan up in the middle of the night and was playing with her. I think perhaps he thinks he's still part of your family."

Satomi began crying in earnest. Mai put the lid of the box back on, then slid off the bed and sat beside Satomi.

"It shows how much you meant to him." Mai said kindly. "And we can help him move on now we know who he is."

"Thank you." Satomi sobbed. "I'm sorry; I should have told you before."

"It's okay." She replied. "It can be hard talking about losing someone, especially a child."

"It won't hurt him?"

"Not in the slightest."

Mai placed an arm around Satomi as she continued to cry. She couldn't help but wonder if her own child, the one she had chosen to send to the afterlife, had moved on easily. She hoped so.

When Satomi had composed herself, the two women went downstairs together, Satomi promised to make everyone tea and Mai relayed the information to the rest of the team.

"We really need Masako here to talk to him." Monk said.

"Mai can do it." Oliver said, without looking away from the monitors. "Going to sleep is one of the few things she is adept at, she may as well be useful when she does it."

"Noll!" Madoka said angrily. "Behave."

"Well I can try." Mai said while glaring at the back of Oliver's head. "At least my abilities are somewhat useful in something other than upsetting people." She added as she turned on her heel and headed for her bedroom.

Mai's words had stirred something in Oliver's brain. His abilities. Psychometry. He could use psychometry on Mai's letter to find out what was wrong with her, any vision using the letter was bound to show a meeting between her and her doctor.

But that would be an ultimate betrayal of her trust and her privacy. Oliver frowned, pondering the possibilities. If he did do it, and then pretended he hadn't, he would know – which would satisfy his longing – without upsetting Mai. But if it was something serious, how could he not say anything?

-

**Author's note: I would like to thank everyone for not sending me any horrible messages about abortion etc. I'll be honest when I say that I was expecting a few pro-life people to send me horrible messages about how disgusting abortion is etc. But I have not received a single one and it makes me really happy that so many of you are pro-choice/supportive of Mai's decision. So thank you all for making my day! Please review if you have time as I really appreciate it!**


	4. Chapter 4

Mai felt herself leaving her body and entering the spirit realm. As she had practiced over the years she had become more adept at noticing the change.

She wandered around the house in the spirit realm until she found the small boy from the photographs. He was singing nursery rhymes to Sakura.

"What…?" Mai mumbled as she noticed that Sakura looked as real as anything else in this realm. But the sound of her voice made the small boy turn around.

"Shhh!" The small boy hissed. "You'll wake my sister!" He then ran over to Mai, grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the room.

"I'm sorry!" Mai whispered. "Are you Yoji-kun?"

"Yes, how did you know?" Yoji was frowning.

"Your mummy and daddy sent me." Mai replied.

"Why?"

"Well they want me to take you somewhere."

"Where?"

"Somewhere you'll be happy." Mai replied. "Where you'll always have your friends and family around you, though some of them aren't quite there yet."

"Why not?"

Blimey, Mai thought, children do ask a lot of questions.

"Because they don't want to go until they know you are there, so if you don't go then you won't get to see them properly."

"Oh." Yoji stopped frowning. "Where do I have to go?"

"Can you see a bright light?"

"Yes." He nodded.

"Well you need to walk towards it."

"Why is it so bright?"

"Because it's a permanent summer's day, where everything is sunny and warm and you can play all day."

Yoji smiled at her words.

"Okay, I'll just go and say goodbye to my sister."

"Good idea." Mai smiled and watched as he ran back into Sakura's room and kissed her forehead. He mumbled a few words to her that Mai couldn't hear, and then came running back to Mai.

"I asked her to look after Mum and Dad until they can join me."

Mai smiled and then hugged the small boy. He grinned and then ran off down the corridor. Mai watched as he slowly faded away.

"I like non-violent cases." Mai muttered, then looked in on Sakura, who was asleep. She was definitely in this plane. Frowning, Mai concentrated and returned to her own body with a jolt.

Oliver waited until he got home to test the letter. They had left the clients after dinner and had arrived home before 10pm. His conscience had been at war with his curiosity for the entirety of the drive home.

His curiosity had won.

Oliver pulled the letter out of his bag and lay down on the sofa, as it was safer when his body indubitably collapsed to be already lying down. He tapped into his power and let the images come.

_Mai was standing somewhere he didn't recognise. Her surroundings were slowly coming into focus. Books. Lots of books. And computers too. It was a library. Mai was standing next to a large printer, the kind you have in a school or university. She was picking something up from the output tray. Mai glanced at it, then lifted the lid of the printer and picked up the original piece of paper. She had photocopied her doctor's note._

_She folded up the copy and placed it inside the envelope, then put the original in her diary._

Oliver cursed mentally as he woke. Had she predicted his actions? Or was this just her instincts kicking in? Or did she just want a copy for her own records? He suspected that she knew he'd be curious, she knew him well after all.

He shoved the letter back in his bag. So she had hidden the original in her diary. Oliver lay back down and began to think; how was he going to get his hands on it…?

The following morning, Oliver called for tea when Mai arrived at the office. She brought it in like usual, and like usual he refrained from giving her his thanks. Once she was gone from his office and the door was closed, he picked up his book and shuffled his chair around so that it was next to his office door; the better to hear the actions outside.

He was waiting for her to go to the toilet. That would be enough time to leave his office, rifle through her diary and swap the letters. Oliver was so alert to the sounds of her actions, that he was becoming quite inattentive to his book.

Mai finally went to the loo around 10am. Oliver swiftly left the office, quietly crept over to her desk where her diary lay open on one side. He saw that she had marked in the case and had a little to-do list of things like 'do the laundry' and 'pay the electricity bill'. The original letter was in the front of the little book, he slipped it out, unfurled it to check that it was what he was after, and replaced the copy in its place. Then he snuck back to his own office before Mai had returned.

After quietly closing the door, he moved his chair back to his original place and took a seat, eager for the knowledge of what was wrong with Mai.

_This time, Mai was in an office. White walls with inoffensive paintings. She was sat across from a severe looking woman who was folding a piece of paper._

_"__Here." The woman handed her the note._

_"__Thank you, did you…?" Mai began to say but the doctor cut her off._

_"__I have not included that you had a termination." She said reassuringly. "I have merely stated that you need to refrain from exercise and lifting."_

_"__Thank you, you've been so kind and…" Mai wiped her eyes._

_"__Would you like me to call someone to pick you up?"_

_"__No, I'll be okay."_

_Mai placed the letter in her bag and stood up._

_"__I'll see you in two weeks." The doctor said and Mai nodded, before leaving._

Oliver sat bolt upright in shock. A termination. But before his brain could get any further with this shocking piece of information, his office door burst open and Mai stormed in.

"You went through my diary didn't you?" She hissed. "I went to the toilet and came back and it had moved so don't even think of denying it!" Her voice was low with fury in a way Oliver had never heard from Mai before. Then he saw her eyes dart to the letter in his hands. "You switched them didn't you?"

Oliver, for possibly the first time in his life, was speechless. He watched as Mai closed the door behind her before rounding on him again.

"You complete and utter arsehole. That was private! You had absolutely no right to do that!" She was barely preventing herself from shouting. "Do you really think me so incapable as to not find a doctor who can give accurate advice without you having to check their diagnosis?"

"Well if Ayako is anything to base this country's doctors on…" Oliver had found his voice.

"Don't you dare insult her!" Mai pounded her fists onto the desk. "Don't you dare insult any of my friends." Oliver stood up in reaction to her words, but before he could say anything, Mai continued. "Do you know that some women are beaten and killed for having what I had done? Hmm?" She walked round and squared him up, despite him having several inches over her in in height. "Killed! So is it any wonder I would want to keep something like that from everyone! Is it?"

However, Oliver had no chance to respond as Lin entered the office.

"Is everything alright?" He asked tentatively, taking in the scene.

"Yes. Mai, tea." Oliver said, retaking his seat and trying to keep his face calm. Mai snatched the note from him and stormed out of the office, her terrible fury still evident.

"Noll, what did you do?"

"Nothing."

"Mai would not be in such a state if you had done nothing." Lin replied. "Only you could extort such anger from her." Lin was piercing Oliver with such an intense glare; he could almost feel its physical burn.

Mai threw open the office door and walked in with a cup of tea. Lin continued to glare at Oliver, who was watching Mai walk around his desk with the tea that had arrived far sooner than he would have expected.

The next thing Oliver felt was cold tea pouring over his head and then he heard the slamming sound of the cup on the table.

"I quit." Mai said, and she left.

**Author's note: I would like to call this chapter: the Chapter Oliver royally fucked up.**


	5. Chapter 5

Mai gathered up her personal belongings from her desk and was checking the drawers when Oliver excited his office with Lin hot on his heels.

"Mai you have to give two weeks' notice of quitting, as stated in your contract." Oliver said quickly, but Mai was not going to give in that easily. She gave a short fake cough.

"Oh no, I am terribly ill and won't be able to make it in for the next two weeks." Mai said sarcastically.

"Then I need a doctor's note."

"I'll have Ayako write you one."

"From a doctor that is not your personal friend." Oliver replied angrily.

"And what are you going to do if I don't bring one in?" Mai replied. "Fire me?" She raised her eyebrows at him, before swinging her bag over her shoulder and strutting towards the door.

Oliver watched as Mai opened the door, started through it, then paused and turned.

"It was nice working with you Lin." She said, smiling. "Hurry up and propose to Madoka." Lin nodded and smiled in return, still too shocked to say anything.

And then she left.

Oliver paused for a second, then ran after her.

"Mai!" He shouted, unable to keep the desperation out of his voice. "Mai, wait!"

But Mai didn't wait; she kept walking down the stairs towards the front door. Oliver followed and then grabbed hold of her arm, forcing her to turn and face him.

"Mai please, stay." He begged. "I'm sorry."

He had said it so genuinely; it caused Mai to pause, just for a second. She shrugged her arm free of his grip.

She wanted to say something; something to wound him as he had hurt her, but Mai rose above that feeling. Instead she gave him a look of the utmost disappointment and walked out of the building

Oliver watched her go, knowing that running after her now would be pointless. He had lost her, betrayed her trust. Mai had gone.

He watched until she was out of sight, then trudged back up the stairs where Lin was waiting for him on the sofa.

"What did you do Noll?" He asked quietly.

"I upset her." Oliver replied, his face showing no emotion.

"No, you've upset her before, this was different."

"I used psychometry to find out something she didn't want known."

"Oliver!" Lin scolded. "You realise if this gets back to BSPR you could get in serious trouble? They could revoke your funding. Using your abilities like that is against the principles of the company and the privacy agreements!"

"I know Lin." Oliver said angrily. "But I had to know if she was alright." He stormed into his office, grabbed his jacket and returned. "I'm going home." He was still covered in wet tea and was in no mood to do anything now.

"I'll lock up." Lin replied, still furious with the man.

Mai did not go home straight away.

She wanted to call someone and shout to the world about what she had done. An excitable buzz overwhelmed her at finally standing up to that arrogant, narcissistic, tea-loving jerk for good. She was not going to let him get to her ever again.

But the rest of her friends would all be at work or university.

So instead, Mai headed towards the shopping centre. Although she knew, now that she was unemployed, that she should conserve her money, a little bit of window shopping wouldn't hurt. Maybe she would treat herself to a coffee.

She had just passed a bookshop, when she spotted something that really took her fancy; a formal wear shop. The window display consisted of wedding dresses and ball gowns ranging from traditional Japanese wear to more western styles. Mai wanted nothing more than to go and try some big pretty dresses on and swirl around in them.

But before she could even take one step towards the shop, she heard someone calling her name.

"Mai! Mai, is that you?" It was Madoka and there was no way to avoid the pink haired woman. "Shouldn't you be at work?"

"I quit." Mai replied, blushing slightly.

"What did Noll do now?" Madoka asked, rolling her eyes.

"Why do you assume that it was him that made me quit?"

Madoka only raised an eyebrow in reply.

"Fine it was him. He used his abilities to find out something I didn't want him to know and he knew I didn't want him to know." Mai said angrily. "So I thought I'd come here and window shop or something."

"That idiot. You should come to BSPR with me!" Madoka replied, linking her arm through Mai's and dragging her towards the formal wear shop.

"But my English is awful!"

"Ah you'd pick it up! Besides, you could be on my team."

"Madoka, where are you dragging me?"

"To the pretty dresses!" Madoka grinned. "I can see it in your eyes Mai." She laughed at Mai's incredulous look.

They spent a good hour trying on various dresses, before Madoka treated Mai to a coffee.

"I meant what I said before, about coming to work at BSPR." Madoka said after a lull in the conversation. "There'd be more comprehensive training and you could even work towards qualifications if you want. Luella and I can teach you English and the pay is better over there too."

"I don't know Madoka." Mai replied honestly. "Maybe ghost hunting just isn't for me."

"Really Mai?"

"Well I just get into trouble." Mai said bashfully.

"Which is what makes you useful, besides, look at what you did on the last case!"

"Oh!" Mai exclaimed suddenly. "I just remembered! When I was helping the ghost move on, I saw Sakura-chan in the astral plane."

"What?"

"Like how I would have seen a ghost or another astral walker."

"But that child had no abilities!"

"I know! I was talking to him about it, that maybe we are all born with a bit of the ability and then some people lose it and some people keep it and its grows."

"That is certainly an interesting theory…" Madoka pondered.

Madoka drove Mai home before returning to Lin's apartment, where he was waiting for her.

"You'll never believe what happened today." He said from the sofa.

"Mai quit."

"Wait, what? You know?"

"Bumped into her at the shopping centre."

"You will have wished you had seen it." Lin said as Madoka joined him on the sofa.

"What happened?" Madoka asked eagerly.

"Well they were arguing." Lin started.

"No change there."

"And as it was more heated than usual, I decided to go and check up on the pair of them, but when I entered, the conversation stopped and Noll demanded tea." Lin continued. "I asked what was going on and when Mai returned with tea…"

"She made it for him?"

"Wait, I'm getting to the best part!" Lin protested. "She had made a cup of cold tea and tipped it over his head and declared that she was quitting."

Madoka burst into shocked laughter.

"Go Mai!" She said, still chortling.

"And then Mai stormed out of his office to get her things. Noll rushed out after her of course with excuses of having to give two weeks' notice. Mai coughed and said she was ill. Noll said he'd need a note. Mai said she'd get Ayako to send him one. Noll said he wanted one from a doctor that wasn't her personal friend and Mai replied with 'And what are you going to do if I don't bring one in? Fire me?' and left."

"Ooh! Sassy Mai! I like it." Madoka said.

"Then Noll ran after her and I listened from the doorway; he begged her to stay."

"What? Noll beg? No way."

"Mai didn't say anything though, she just left."

"So what caused it all? Mai said Noll used his abilities to find out something she didn't want him to know, but she didn't say what."

"No idea, that's all he told me."

"Did you overhear any of their argument?" Madoka questioned.

"Hard not to. Mai was yelling about women being beaten and killed or something." Lin paused to think. "And after Noll demanded tea, she snatched a note out of his hands."

"A note?"

"Yeah, looked official. It was on headed paper."

The couple were silent for some time, both thinking over what had been shared between them.

"I told Mai she should come back with me to BSPR." Madoka said finally. "But if she reveals he used his abilities like that, Noll could get in trouble."

"I don't know if Mai would deliberately get him in trouble, she's not that conniving." Lin replied.

"I wouldn't put it past her, she was pretty pissed."

"I'm going to start on dinner." Lin said, looking worried.

"Look at it this way; if Noll does get in trouble, then JSPR will most likely get shut down. We'll all be back in England." Madoka said quietly. "We could be together…"

"Talking of us being together, Mai's parting advice to me was to 'hurry up and propose already'" Lin said seriously.

"And what did you think of her suggestion?" Madoka said even quieter than before.

"I didn't think it was such a bad one…"

It wasn't until later that night, that Madoka had a brainwave about what Oliver had done to upset Mai.

"Hey, you don't think that note was a doctor's note do you?" She asked Lin.

"What? Oh. I don't know, it could've been." Lin replied. "Why?"

"Well I was thinking about Mai's injuries. She said she fell down the stairs right?"

"Yes." Lin agreed. "What of it?"

"Well I saw Mai get changed during the case and she had no bruises to speak of." Madoka said. "Surely if she had fallen down the stairs, she would be covered in them. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but looking back, isn't that suspicious?"

"I guess." Lin replied. "So you think that her story is covering for some other ailment?"

"And Noll used the doctor's note to discover whatever it was." Madoka said, nodding. "And I think I have an idea what it might have been."

"What?"

"Well what medical procedures can get women beaten and killed?"

Lin shook his head.

"I have no idea."

"I really hope I'm wrong, but I think Mai might have had an abortion."

It was a little past 10pm when Yasuhara picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"It's Mai. Are you pro-choice or pro-life?" Mai demanded.

"That's a serious question to ask someone at this time of night."

"Yasuhara, answer the damn question."

"Pro-choice, what is this to do with?"

"Can I come and visit you?"

"Of course, I mean you'll have to sleep on the floor." Yasuhara replied, confused. "Or I will sleep on the floor, but sure, why?"

"I quit at SPR."

"Wait what?!"

"So if I turned up tomorrow that wouldn't be a problem?" Mai ignored his questions; she would answer them when she saw him."

"Sure, just text me a time and I'll collect you from the train station." Yasuhara replied.

"Excellent." And Mai hung up.

Yasuhara placed his phone back on the desk and picked up his pen. The textbook in front of him was not nearly as intriguing as Mai's behaviour. Deciding that it was too late to study well now anyway, he picked his phone up and started texting all the SPR members asking for clues. Oh how he loathed being at university and away from all the action…

It was only when Mai was on the train the next morning, she realised that she had yet to tell anyone else that she'd quit.

As she had an hour or two to spare, she pulled out her mobile and sent **I quit my job at SPR** to Monk, Ayako, John and Masako.

Ayako was first to respond.

**I know, Yasuhara told me last night. What happened?**

But before Mai could respond to that, she received several more texts.

**Yasuhara told me, why?**

**What happened? I thought Yasu was joking?**

**What did the idiot do now?**

From Masako, John and Monk respectively.

Mai began replying; only telling Ayako the truth of the matter. The various responses she received kept her busy until she arrived, where Yasuhara stood waiting for her, a large grin on his face.

"I should have known you couldn't have kept your mouth shut." She said by way of a greeting.

"I was curious! Besides, who wants to read about Fourier Transforms when you can talk about long winded theories as to why you had quit your job." Yasuhara said. "Though this morning I received several texts with your supposed reason."

"Ah, yes about that…"

"Are you going to tell me what really happened?"

"Only if you swear to secrecy never to tell anyone on pain of castration!" Mai said forcefully.

"That serious huh?" Yasuhara replied.

Mai nodded.

"Come on then, let's get you back to my place."

Yasuhara lived in the university's halls, which were reasonably small but comfortable. Mai dumped her stuff in his room and after making a cup of tea, she told him everything that had happened.

Like it had been with Ayako, she felt a sense of relief from getting it all out.

Yasuhara at first was completely speechless by the whole thing, the first time Mai had ever seen him so.

"What are you going to do now then?" He asked finally.

"I'm not sure." Mai replied, frowning. "There aren't exactly many other psychic research institutes in Japan. Madoka suggested I go and join BSPR."

"Really?"

"Yeah, she said she'd teach me English and let me join her team." Mai said, smiling. "It's kind of tempting, I could tell on Naru to his parents."

Yasuhara laughed.

"I wonder how much trouble he would be in."

"I imagine quite a bit." Mai said, laughing. "But I wouldn't want him to come back to England too, so maybe I wouldn't tell. The only other thing I thought of was maybe applying to university."

"Really?"

"Well I think I have enough time before the entrance exams to study for them. I could get a job in a café or something to tide me over until then, money would be tight, but I could do it."

"What would you study?"

"Not sure yet." Mai said, shifting her position on Yasuhara's bed. "I would have to look as some prospectuses."

Yasuhara sank back in his chair.

"Did the boss really beg?"

"Yeah." Mai grinned reluctantly. "If I hadn't been so upset at the time, I probably would have laughed or something. I wish it had been on camera."

"Doesn't the lobby have CCTV?"

"You know, it might do…" Mai said, pulling her phone out of her pocket.

"What are you doing?"

"Texting Madoka." Mai said as she typed. "She'll persuade Lin to check the CCTV."

"Oh if they have that on tape then that will be going viral within the small circles of SPR." Yasuhara said, laughing earnestly now at the very idea.

Mai laughed along with him, glad that she had come for a visit.

"Don't you have lectures today?"

"Nah, it's my only free day!" Yasuhara said happily. "Got a few tomorrow if you want to join me in student life?"

"Okay then." Mai agreed, fully aware she would not understand anything that would be taught. "But no going out drinking."

"Because of…?"

"No, I should be fine from that, they only said like 48 hours or something." Mai said. "But I just don't feel like it."

"That's okay, we can totally stay here and watch movies with popcorn and have pillow fights and wander around in our underwear!" Yasuhara said, grinning manically.

"You do realise that girls do not do that at sleepovers?" Mai said, laughing.

"Well what do girls do then?"

"Eat too much chocolate and talk about their desperately bad love lives and then plan what they'd do in the zombie apocalypse, while some movie is on in the background…"

"And you want to talk about boys?" Yasuhara teased.

"Eugh. No. Enough about boys." Mai replied exasperatedly, rolling her eyes.

"Let's start on the apocalypse plan then." Yasuhara said, as he joined Mai on the bed. "I vote we feed Naru to the zombies, as his brain is so large it will keep them all fulfilled for a long time."

**Author's note: Well this took forever to write and it doesn't feel like there is a lot of it, but I hope you all enjoy and please review! I love waking up to reviews in the morning :)**


	6. Chapter 6

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.

Oliver's feet pound the pavement as he ran through the dark night. Mai had quit yesterday. He hadn't been to work. He'd only left his bedroom to relieve himself and once for food until he decided to go for a run. He wasn't even sure how long he had been running.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.

He had hoped it would clear his head, but it was not working.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.

Termination. The word flew around Oliver's head like a bullet. He knew exactly what it meant, but could not believe Mai had actually gone through with such a thing. Neither could he believe Mai would have got into such a situation, despite her general tendency towards idiocy.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.

Surely he would have picked up if she'd had a boyfriend. No, he would have noticed. Mai wouldn't have kept her mouth shut about such a thing.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.

And he, Oliver, had been stupid enough to pry into her personal affairs.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.

So who had she had sex with? For some reason, the idea of Mai sleeping with some unknown stranger did not settle well with Oliver. How many psychometric visions had he seen of bad things happening during sex? He had lost count. But he had wanted to save Mai from that torment. He would want to save anyone from that.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.

But wasn't his prying into her secret just as bad? He had lost her trust.

Thud.

Oliver stopped running, unsure of his surroundings. When he had left his apartment he had no planned route in mind. He had just run in the first direction with a green light and had kept going. He sighed and turned, planning just to ran back the way he came until he found something he recognised.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.

How was he going to regain her trust? That was the only way he could convince her to come back to SPR and she had to come back. He needed his daft little assistant. For tea.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.

He would find a way. Prove it to her that he would respect her boundaries from now on. That he had learnt from his mistake.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.

Idiot scientist.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.

The words ran through his mind in Gene's voice. And as much as Oliver hated to agree with his brother's voice, he was right. His damn curiosity had gotten the better of him.

When he arrived home, Oliver showered and had just opened his laptop when his phone rang. It was Madoka.

"Hey Noll!" She greeted him cheerfully. "Missed you at work today!"

"What do you want?" Oliver asked curtly.

"Well Lin and I were having great fun today with the CCTV footage and I was wondering what you would do for me in order for me not to send this to Yasuhara, who desperately wants to see it according to Mai."

"See what?"

"Check your personal email."

Rolling his eyes, Oliver opened his email and opened the attachment from Madoka.

It was a short video from the lobby of the office. Mai could be seen storming down the stairs. Oliver saw himself run down after her, grab her arm and his lips mouthed something. But that was not what made the video so valuable as blackmail material.

What made it valuable was the pathetic look of begging on his face.

"What do you want?" Oliver asked finally, silently grateful for the last of audio. He didn't think he could bear to hear how pathetic he had sounded too.

"Well I have a pretty good idea of what has gone on and I want you to make it up to Mai."

"What do you think I was going to do?" Oliver replied sarcastically. He was too tired for Madoka right now.

"And I want to you tell her how you feel about her." Madoka finished.

"I don't feel anything for her." Oliver replied quickly, too quickly perhaps.

"I could always send this to your mother. I bet she would have a great laugh and would never stop badgering you about Mai." Madoka suggested slyly.

Oliver cursed silently.

"Fine. But you won't interfere."

"As if I would!"

"Madoka." Oliver said warningly.

"Fine fine." Madoka said. "And just so you are aware, Mai is staying with Yasuhara until the weekend, so you've got a few days to come up with a plan."

"Right."

"Now what are you going to do for me so I don't sent it to Monk..." Madoka said.

Oliver hung up.

"Yasu!" Mai whined. "Please can we go and get ice cream!"

"Mai, it is 3am." Yasuhara replied. "I have lectures tomorrow, no, today!"

"But the little shop will be open and we can go in our pyjamas!" She gazed up at him in her best impersonation of a puppy.

"Fine!" Yasuhara threw his hands up in defeat, how could he refuse that face? He had wanted to comment something along the lines of 'that face is the reason the Boss is in love with you' but he had refrained, it would have hurt Mai too much.

The pair pulled on their shoes and jackets and headed out to pick up ice cream.

Mai had laughed at the strange looks they'd received walking to and from the shop. But it had been totally worth it!

When back in Yasuhara's room, they ate ice cream while watching some supernatural horror movie. They had a good laugh pointing out all the inaccuracies.

Mai had fallen asleep on Yasuhara's shoulder before the film finished. He tucked her into his bed and then climbed into his sleeping bag.

When Mai woke the next morning, she found a note on Yasuhara's desk saying: **Gone to lectures, will pick you up at lunchtime. Didn't want to wake you! Y.**

Mai smiled at his kindness and got up. She stole some of Yasuhara's rice to make some breakfast, despite it being 11am, and then showered.

Mai spent her morning using Yasuhara's laptop to look up university requirements and checking her email. Madoka had refused to send the CCTV footage because of some stupid company policy reasons. But Mai had hoped that Lin might have snuck it to her somehow.

Yasuhara turned up a little while later and they grabbed some lunch before he dragged Mai back to his lectures. As Yasuhara was a second year, Mai could barely follow most of what was being taught, so she amused herself with throwing tiny balls of paper at sleeping students.

They spent the next few days staying up too late and going to Yasuhara's lectures. Mai was sad to leave, but knew that she couldn't avoid her own life forever.

Mai returned home on Saturday.

She spent a little while tidying her apartment and sorting all the mail. She had a few bills to pay which had the unfortunate side effect of reminding her she now no longer had a job.

Reluctantly, Mai logged onto her internet banking to check her balance and pay the bills.

However, her account was showing a lot more than she had expected it to have. Upon closer inspection, she realised that SPR had not only paid her next month's wages, but included a bonus that would cover the cost of her recent medical treatment.

"That bastard." Mai muttered. She knew that Oliver had done it. Without really thinking it through, Mai found a local shelter for abuse victims and donated the entire bonus to its cause. "Ha." She said triumphantly. "That shows you and your damn pity money."

Then she paid her bills and worked out how long she could afford to live without a job. She estimated a few months, depending on how frugal she could be. The heating bill would reduce soon, because it was getting warmer, though she could always turn the thermostat down sooner.

On Sunday, Mai woke to the sound of someone banging on her door.

Grumbling several profanities, Mai pulled on slippers and cursed again at how cold her apartment was now she was not safe under her duvet.

"Who on earth…" She mumbled, she was not tall enough to look though the peephole. So opened the door completely unprepared for Oliver to be standing on the other side. "What do you want?"

"To talk to you."

"I should have just slammed the door in your face you know." Mai stood aside to let him enter. "And I'm not making you tea."

Just to spite him, Mai made herself a cup of tea – she hadn't had breakfast to be fair – and then sat down on the sofa.

"Talk." She ordered. Mai studied his face as she drank, he looked troubled.

"I am sorry for invading your privacy." Oliver said. Mai did not say anything, but continued to watch him. "I should not have used my abilities on the fake note, let alone go through your diary for the real one."

"So?"

"I want to make it up to you." Oliver said. "And I want you to come back to SPR."

"Well that is where we have a problem. I don't care what you want."

It was a lie. She did care, as much as she hated herself for it, she did care. But there was no way she would go back.

"Mai, I…" Oliver began, but Mai cut him off.

"Why did you do it?" Her tone was quiet, but full of venom.

"For a few reasons." Oliver replied.

"Which are?"

"I don't like not knowing things. And I was concerned for you." When Oliver saw Mai roll her eyes, he continued. "That you were in some sort of trouble, usually it is my task to save you."

"I'm not some damsel in distress!" Mai protested.

Oliver raised an eyebrow.

"Do you want me to list all the times I have been required to rescue you?"

"I can handle some things myself!"

Mai expected Oliver to argue back, to insult her at the very least. Yet he only sighed.

"Mai you are very skilled at what you do, but there are very few other legitimate businesses in paranormal research here in Japan." Oliver said finally. "You will be wasted in any other job."

"You know, I think that's the first time you have ever complimented me without it being hidden within an insult." Mai replied. "But I've already had other better paid offers with respectable institutions." Madoka's offer counted right?

"From who?" Oliver demanded.

"Not telling." Mai smirked at the look of annoyance on his face. "What are you going to do? Go round touching my things to find out?"

He glared at her, but Mai did not back down.

"Mai, I have a greater knowledge of who is respectable in this field, I don't want you working somewhere that is full of frauds."

"I checked them by Madoka." Mai replied; it was sort of true. "I'm not stupid." They sat in silence for a moment, staring at each other. "Is that all?"

"I will provide you with a reference if you need one."

"That won't be necessary." Mai said coldly. "I don't need your validation, Oliver."

Oliver was taken aback by the use of his English name, despite Mai's shaking pronunciation.

"I'll leave then." He said finally and Mai could see pain in his eyes. She felt guilty at causing him pain, and then reminded herself it was his fault in the first place.

"You can show yourself out." Mai said, not bothering to get up, but instead picked up the remote and switched on the TV, pretending that she was no longer interested in his presence.

Only when she heard the front door shut did she let the tears fall from her eyes. Curse that man and his ability to upset her. What right did he have to have such an effect over her? After all the pain he had caused her?

Mai turned off the TV and returned to her bed, picked up a pillow and hugged it. She just wanted to move on with her life.

"Hello?" Madoka answered the phone.

"Mai said she had a job offer from another institution that apparently she has run by you in order to check its authenticity." Oliver said; straight to the point. "It's at BSPR isn't it?"

"Hello Noll, how are you?"

"Madoka, I know what you want from me and I can't do that if you send Mai to England."

"Unless you return too."

"I won't do that." He liked Japan and the freedom it gave him.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Fix the mess you made."

And he hung up.

**Author's note: I'm not sure I like this chapter, but hey ho. Please review! I want to hear your thoughts and predictions for what might happen!**


	7. Chapter 7

On Monday morning, Mai phoned Madoka and told her that she wanted to take the position at BSPR, but the response was less than favourable.

"Well you won't be able to officially start until September, as that's when they do graduate recruiting. But I have an idea of what we can do until then, regarding your ideas about children in the astral place." Madoka had replied.

"Right…"

"Let me contact Martin and get back to you, don't worry Mai, I'll sort it out!"

"Okay."

Mai hung up. She believed Madoka would help her, but she desperately wanted to start doing things now. She'd been out of a job less than a week but she was definitely bored.

On the following Friday, Mai went to her check-up appointment and was cleared to do light exercise and takes baths again.

When she got home, Mai took a bath in celebration and stayed in the water until it was cold. Then she called Ayako and told her how everything had gone. Ayako had wanted to go out and celebrate, but Mai honestly couldn't be bothered getting all dressed up.

Instead, she planned to spend her evening practicing astral projecting. If Madoka wanted to do some serious research on this thing, then Mai would need to be able to astral project on command and with ease.

She had done a little research on the internet about astral projecting. Most of the websites had been superstitious rubbish or in English. But with the aid of a few online translators and her English dictionary, Mai had been able to find out a little more about astral projection.

There seemed to be a general consensus that there were several planes. The plane all humans were on, the afterlife, and then some in-between, the exact number was uncertain.

Mai took a seat on her sofa, then lay back and closed her eyes.

Oliver had already eaten his dinner. He was sat in a tall armchair with a book. His father had asked him to read it over as a favour to the author, who was a fellow researcher at BSPR.

Oliver did not think much of the book. It seemed like the author had just rewritten a lot of other work, with no original content. This made reading it very tedious. But he had promised his father and so he would read it.

Tomorrow.

He would finish it tomorrow.

Oliver dumped the book on the table and wandered over to his own bookshelf, looking for a more favourable read. He selected a new book and turned to return to his chair, when he noticed the book he had left on the table had moved.

It had turned slightly and was now open.

Frowning, Oliver moved over to it wearily. It was now showing Chapter 16: Astral Projection. Oliver had not reached that chapter yet, so glanced over the first chapter.

_Astral projection is the ability to remove the consciousness from a physical body and move amongst other spiritual planes. Known projectors skills range from merely walking in other planes and talking with spirits there, to being able to use the ability to appear in other places in a ghostly form and affect the surroundings._

"Mai…" Oliver whispered. Mai could astral project, though he had never pushed her to test the limits of her abilities. A more desperate question would be why had the book opened.

Oliver had some protective charms up around his apartment, to keep out the really bad spirits. But he had not been too thorough, just in case Gene had tried to contact him.

This meant that something could be in his apartment.

Oliver pulled out his phone.

"Lin? Can you send a few shiki round? I think a spirit might be in my apartment."

"I'll send them ahead, see you in a minute."

Then a lot of things happened in quick succession.

The book on the table slammed shut, a chair at the table fell over backwards and then the sound system turned on at full volume.

Oliver shrank away from the noise instinctively before reaching for the remote to turn it off.

Lin burst through the front door a moment later.

"What happened?!"

Oliver explained the small series of events.

"Well my shiki haven't found anything." Lin reported. "Do you want to get some cameras?"

"Perhaps." Oliver said quietly, frowning at the book.

Madoka had watched Lin run out of the apartment to check on Oliver, who lived in the next building.

Then she screamed.

"Mai!" Madoka held a hand to her chest in an attempt to slow her breathing. As Mai had just appeared in front of her eyes. "What? How?"

"I was practicing astral projecting!" Mai said cheerfully.

"What? This is a projection?" Madoka stood up and studied Mai, who was standing there in her pyjamas. Tentatively, she waved a hand straight through Mai's body. "Can you feel that?"

"Nope. But watch this!" Mai walked over to the remote and pressed a button. The TV turned on.

"How?"

"If I concentrate really hard, I can do things while projecting!" Mai said. "I've done it before; I gave Masako my key on the Urado case. So I thought I'd try it…" Mai trailed off guiltily.

"What did you do?" Madoka asked, and then it clicked. "You caused the disturbance at Noll's apartment?"

Mai nodded and the two women laughed.

"I didn't do anything serious!" Mai protested weakly. "But he's so annoying, I just couldn't help myself."

"You have no complaints here!" Madoka said, still grinning. "I'm going to get Noll to keep you on the payroll by the way, but you will be working with me. Martin has agreed to a research project on childhood development and loss of abilities. You've got enough money to last until next month right?"

"Yeah, he paid me this month's wages just after I quit; plus a bonus that I donated to charity on principle." Mai said. "He sent it out of guilt." She added.

"Mai, can I ask you a question?" Madoka suddenly seemed uneasy.

"Yes…" Mai replied slowly, worried about the look on Madoka's face.

"Did you really fall down the stairs?"

"Yes, why do you ask?" Mai replied defensively.

"Because I don't think you did." Madoka said firmly and then continued. "You had no bruises on that case we took. And from things Noll has said…"

"He told you?" Mai demanded furiously.

"No!" Madoka replied quickly. "He just said he upset you by invading your privacy with his abilities. But Lin walked in on your argument, heard a some stuff and saw the doctor's note. I might have put a few things together…" She looked guilty now.

"Maybe I should leave." Mai said, staring stonily at the pink haired woman.

"I don't judge you Mai. I just want to help." Madoka replied earnestly, before trying to hug Mai. She was not very successful due to the lack of solidity in Mai's astral form.

"Who else knows?" Mai asked emotionlessly.

"Well I ran my ideas by Lin…"

"Right."

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to find out."

"No, if he hadn't been an interfering git then you would never have found out. It's his fault." Mai said. "I should head back anyway; this is seriously draining on my energy reserves."

"I'll text you about when we're starting on Monday?" Madoka said.

"We aren't doing it in the office are we?"

"I'm not sure, I'm waiting to hear from Martin."

Mai nodded and then froze as they heard voices just outside the door. It was Lin and Oliver.

Madoka turned to tell Mai to go, but she was already gone. Madoka sat back down on the sofa and quickly picked up her phone, so she looked like she'd been there all along.

Lin and Oliver entered, still talking about the incident.

"I have told you before you should have more charms up around your place." Lin said. "Noll is staying for the night Madoka."

"What happened?" Madoka asked, feigning ignorance. She listened to Oliver's explanation. "Sounds suspicious."

"We've set up a few cameras in case it comes back." Lin said as Oliver took a seat and opened his book.

Madoka only nodded, knowing that no such activity would occur.

Mai knew she shouldn't have messed with the stuff in Oliver's apartment, but the temptation had been too great to ignore. She was tempted to go back and give him a good kick in the balls. Or a wedgie. Or draw on his face in his sleep. Or place a load of waxing strips on his legs so that the only way to get them off would be for him to rip them off. Or use his phone to phone his mother and get him in trouble for something.

She was proud how much she had been able to do, despite how tired she now felt.

Yet she wasn't sure how she felt about Madoka working out that she'd had an abortion. Madoka wasn't being mean to her about it, and apart from Lin, Mai was sure she would not share it with anyone. Neither would Lin, then again, who exactly would he share it with? But still. The idea of more people knowing unsettled her; it was more opportunities for the secret to get out.

Mai had half a mind just to make the information public. Get the fuss out of the way and done with. But there was also the chance that if no more fuss was made about it, then perhaps her secret would die away into the recesses of history, never to be mentioned again.

Now that she had been cleared by her doctor, there was literally no reason she could think of that she would ever have to bring the subject up again for.

Comforted by this thought, Mai climbed into bed and went to bed.

Mai decided, now that she had stable income again, to go properly shopping when she woke up on Saturday morning. She walked to her local shopping centre and spent the entire day perusing the shops.

As she was now going to be a proper researcher, she picked up a few textbooks on experimental methods and the ethics of experimentation on adults and children. She also decided to buy herself some new work clothes. Not that her wardrobe wasn't already rather extensive, but smart new clothes would help her feel the part.

Finally, Mai visited a lingerie store. Matching underwear did wonders for her confidence. Something about having something so pretty – in a matching set – that only she knew about, made her feel powerful; like she could achieve anything.

Mai arrived home late and spent her evening reading her new books, and eating microwave food.

The following day, Mai continued to read the books so that she would be prepared for Monday. Although rather daunted by the task of a research project, she was rather excited by the idea of actually contributing to the store of parapsychological knowledge.

Madoka texted just before dinner on Sunday.

**Pop over for a bit?**

Assuming that that meant Lin's apartment was otherwise empty, Mai prepared to astral project to see Madoka. She really liked having this ability. It meant she could be supremely lazy. If only she had realised when she had still been at work, she never would have had to left her apartment!

Mai closed her eyes from the position on the sofa, and when she opened them, she found herself in the astral plane. Concentrating on Lin's apartment, everything wooshed around her until she recognised the surroundings. She screwed her eyes up again, and forced herself to be visible to Madoka.

But it wasn't only Madoka.

Lin and Oliver were also sitting in the room and obviously weren't expecting her to just appear out of thin air.

"I presumed you would be alone." Mai said to Madoka, annoyed. She ignored Lin and Oliver's shocked looks. Well, as shocked as either of their faces ever became.

"Sorry, I needed to talk to you about the arrangements. BSPR won't give us our own office for this research so we will be sharing with JSPR. We will be taking Lin's old office as our base." Madoka said. "This means that you will have to be civil to Noll."

But before Mai could reply, Oliver spoke.

"It was you." He said. "You moved the book didn't you."

"Just be glad that was all I did."

"You entered my home without my permission."

"Wow, I wonder what it's like to have my privacy invaded." Mai replied sarcastically.

"Children, be quiet." Madoka said firmly. "Mai, your actions were childish and I will not permit you to repeat them."

"How exactly do you plan on enforcing that?"

"Noll, your actions were despicable and if you upset Mai I will tell your mother something you don't want her to know." Madoka said, ignoring Mai's question.

Oliver glared at her.

Lin, on the other hand, was sitting in the corner, looking mildly amused by the whole proceeding.

"How will you enforce Taniyama-san's restriction from my home?" Oliver asked.

"That is between me and Mai."

Mai frowned at Madoka, but presumed she would get an explanation later.

"Now can you two agree to work near each other without snide comments? Or at least without open hostility?" Madoka asked, sounding tired.

Both Mai and Oliver nodded, neither of them looking at each other.

"Mai, I expect you at 9am tomorrow then."

"Okay, bye." Mai threw one final dirty look at Oliver and left.

When she woke in her own body again, Mai got up from the sofa to make dinner, but was interrupted from getting too far by her phone buzzing.

**I don't care if you go to his apartment, but if you get caught, I will not help you out. **

Mai laughed at Madoka's text, then her phone buzzed again.

**Unless he does something else stupid, then I will help you hide the body :P**

Mai laughed even harder at that and went to make dinner.

**Author's note: I'm sorry! I know this chapter was a bit filler-y but I needed to move it on to the next bit of the story and yeah... Please review with your thoughts and ideas! I love hearing what you think might happen or want to happen. My plan is still rather loose right now so I may take ideas into account! Thanks for reading :)**


	8. Chapter 8

On Monday morning, Mai tried to tell herself that the reason she was wearing her new office clothes – and new underwear – was not to impress Oliver. But it wasn't really working.

She did feel that she looked very professional in her new clothing; the only thing ruining the look was the slightly scuffed brogues on her feet. But they were comfy and there was no way she was going to stop wearing them because of a small scuff.

Mai was annoyed to find that she was the second person in the office that morning. Oliver, judging from the noise coming out of his office, was making a phone call. Mai ignored him, and headed towards Lin's old office. It had already been cleared out. Mai wondered briefly when it had been done.

Madoka and Lin arrived a few minutes later. Mai decided to make a pot of tea, and she took a cup to Lin she apologise for forcing him to move out of his office. He was now using her old desk.

"It does not bother me; I only had an office because there happened to be one." He said, taking the cup of tea with a nod. "Besides, what you have done means Madoka will be staying here for a few months. For that, I am grateful." Mai smiled in response, glad something good had come of all this, but then Lin continued. "Would you take Noll some tea? He's grouchy without it and I have to work with him all day…"

Mai sighed.

"Fine, but only because I feel guilty for turfing you out of your office." She said, and went off to pour another cup of tea, wondering if Madoka had put Lin up to it.

She knocked on Oliver's office door and waited to hear 'come in' before entering.

Oliver looked up.

"I brought you tea, at Lin's request." She said, making sure it 100% clear that she would not have done it from her own free will.

"I didn't realise you were capable of looking so smart." He said after looking her up and down.

"Well I never had any reason to bother before." Mai replied, scowling. She placed the cup of tea down on his desk and turned to leave.

"Thank you."

Mai faltered a step. Pausing to ensure she had heard what she thought she had heard.

"You know it is rather sad that hearing common courtesy from you is so shocking that I have to question my own hearing." Mai said, without turning around. Then she left the office and returned to her own.

Madoka already had a stack of papers waiting for them.

"Thanks for the tea!" She said. "We have to start by outlining how we are going to conduct the research."

And so they spent the morning setting out their plans and trying to find ways around research issues. Mai was glad she had done all that reading at the weekend, she was able to understand most of Madoka's terminology and was even able to suggest a few things that she'd read about.

By lunchtime, they were both very satisfied by the amount they had got done. Mai had brought in a packed lunch, but Madoka and Lin went out to buy some food.

Mai had an idea that Madoka was trying to leave her and Oliver alone in the office for as long as possible without her becoming suspicious. That Madoka was still trying to set them up.

It was ridiculous.

Mai took her lunch - homemade maki rolls - out into the main office space and took a seat on the sofa. She had yet to take one bite when Oliver's voice came from his doorway.

"May I join you?"

"It's technically your office, so I can't stop you."

Oliver sat down opposite Mai on the other sofa, he was clutching his own lunch and Mai could feel his gaze upon her face.

"Have I got something on my face?" Mai asked after a minute of this staring.

"No." Oliver paused, then opened his lunch, then spoke again. "I propose a game."

"What?" Mai looked up from her food, frowning.

"I ask you a question, you ask me a question, we both answer honestly."

"Why?"

"Because I want answers to certain questions and I feel this is probably the best way to get the answers I want."

"Okay." Mai agreed. "But we keep the answers we receive private and I ask first."

"Fine."

"Did you have a teddy bear as a child, and if so what was its name?" Mai asked, sinking back into the sofa and taking another bite of her food. Oliver looked slightly taken aback by her question.

"When I was very young, still at the orphanage in America, I had a teddy dressed in a NASA spacesuit. My psychic abilities didn't develop properly until I was about 5, before that I wanted to be an astronaut." Oliver replied stonily. "I wanted to escape that place, and only space seemed big enough to get away from it. His name was Buzz."

Mai wasn't exactly sure how to respond to that, she had honestly expected him to say that he had had no such thing because it was immature.

"Do you still have him?"

"No. When I left the orphanage I gave him to one of the younger boys, he appreciated him more than I did." Oliver replied. "My turn, who was the father?"

Mai had been expecting the question, but still wasn't sure how she wanted to answer.

"I don't know." She said finally, and then decided to continue at the look on his face. "I was trying to get over someone. I went out on Friday nights with my friends, drew the attention of men and slept with them." Mai sighed. "I always used protection but something went wrong somewhere." Oliver nodded, but didn't say anything. "Have you ever failed an exam?"

"Never an official exam." Oliver replied. "Though I once received less than satisfactory marks in an English spelling test when I first moved to England. I had spelt the words with the American spelling, which was not accepted as an answer."

Mai couldn't help but laugh a little.

"Did no one tell you of the difference?"

"Not until after the test. I was 8 years old and almost destroyed half the classroom." Oliver did not smile. "The other children had spent most of that week teasing Gene and I about our accents, which at the time were a mix of Japanese and American. The results of that test had been the last straw."

"What stopped you?" Mai asked, but she thought she could guess the answer.

"Gene, of course. He managed to defuse the whole situation and absorb the excess energy I was giving off. The school did not know of our dispositions. We perfected an English accent by the end of the week and then no more was said on the matter." Oliver paused before asking his next question. "Why didn't you keep it?"

Mai had been expecting this question too, but was more prepared to answer this one.

"I was not ready for a baby. Neither financially nor emotionally really..." Mai said, looking down at her food. "I do want children one day, but when I'm married and more stable." Oliver nodded again at her response. "Do you ever want a family?"

"I have a family." Oliver replied. "Two, if you count JSPR."

"I meant your own family, a partner and children?" Mai rectified.

"I would not be opposed to the idea. But I do not think I would be a very good father."

"Your lack of sympathy would probably be a problem." Mai pointed out. "And the whole never smiling thing. And being as rude as you are doesn't make you an idea role model."

"Do you plan on listing all of my faults?"

"But you are a good teacher when you want to be." Mai continued, ignoring his words. "And would encourage their curiosity in the world around them. And you would never fail to help them if they needed it. Brush up on your manners and get in touch with a few emotions and you wouldn't be so bad, I suppose."

"Alternatively, their mother could teach them manners and kindness." Oliver pointed out. Then I have no need to change.

"That would require you finding someone to put up with you." Mai teased.

"Yes." He agreed. "It would."

They were staring at each other; Oliver's intense blue eyes boring into Mai's beautiful brown ones. Then Mai looked away.

"Your turn." She said, as she ate the last of her lunch.

"Me? Or Gene?"

Mai looked back up at him and froze, remembering the last time she had heard those words.

But before she could answer, Lin and Madoka burst in through the doorway.

"So you two haven't killed each other?" Madoka asked, not realising what she had just interrupted.

"No, Madoka." Oliver replied curtly, relieving Mai of the responsibility to speak coherently. "Surprisingly, two adults can have polite conversation without attempting murder."

"Yes, but usually those two adults don't consist of you and someone else."

Mai got up from the sofa and followed Madoka back to their office. Lin gave Oliver a meaningful look, which Oliver ignored and returned to his own office.

Ayako had phoned Mai the moment she got home.

"Mai! It's been forever since you talked to me! How are you? How was the check-up?"

"All fine!" Mai replied, but before she could go any further, Ayako continued.

"Well, I have just taken my latest round of new medical students and one of them is a very cute guy by the name of Inoue Ken and I am all for setting you two up."

"What?!" Mai spluttered. "Ayako, are you crazy?"

"You need to get over that damn bastard and how better than to get your foot back into the dating pool!" Ayako replied.

"Ayako, I do not want to date."

"Why not?" Ayako replied. "I have talked it over with Monk and that idiot agrees that it's a good idea."

"Ayako!"

"What? Mai, you can't still be hopeful that something is going to happen between you and Naru!"

"I'm not! But I don't want to date right now!" Mai protested.

"Why not?"

"Because I am starting a research project with Madoka and honestly it is going to take up too much of my time."

"But Inoue-kun is really cute!"

"Well you go out with him then!"

"You are no fun."

"Eugh." Mai sighed. "Look, when I have settled into this project and I want to start dating, you can set me up, okay?"

"Fine!" Ayako cried dramatically. "But you are missing out. His bum is something worth goggling at."

"You are such a pervert."

"Are you coming on this case on Wednesday? I heard you were still working in the office."

"No, Madoka and I are separate from the main JSPR business."

"Sucks, well I might catch you before we leave."

"That'd be great!"

Ayako hung up and sunk back onto the sofa, concerned for her friend. She hoped Mai was being honest with herself. While Ayako knew that dating someone else wasn't really the best way of getting over someone, it distracted attention from the original problem.

Ayako speed dialled Monk.

"Mai did not take the bait."

"What? Why?"

"This research project thing. At least that is her excuse."

"Perhaps I should drop by the office and make sure nothing is going on."

"I don't know…" Ayako replied. "I don't want to interfere too much."

"Who said I was going to interfere?" Monk asked. "I would just observe…"

"On your own head be it."

"Me? Or Gene?"

The words were haunting Mai.

Of course she knew the answer, but telling Oliver that was a different matter. Telling him that it had been him all along would be admitting that his actions still affected her in a way she wished they did not. Did she want him to know he had this power?

But telling him that it was Gene would not only be a lie, but it would hurt him which, despite how angry she was with him, wasn't something she wanted to do in the slightest.

And it wasn't like she could just avoid answering the question entirely.

Mai felt a heavy feeling in her chest. As if someone had hung a weight around her heart and left it there, promising to remove it only when this issue was resolved.

She made herself a cup of tea and climbed into bed with her notes from the day's work. Mai had wanted to look over everything before bed, but her mind was focused elsewhere and nothing she did seemed to refocus it.

Finally, Mai made her decision and lay back. She closed her eyes and willed herself out of her body. She focused on Oliver's apartment, but this time, aimed to appear at his front door.

When she opened her eyes and had forced herself into solidarity, Mai knocked on the door and waited.

Oliver answered swiftly, dressed in his own pyjamas due to the lateness of the hour.

"Mai? What are you doing here?" He was frowning. "Is this a projection?"

"Yes and I wanted to talk to you."

Oliver stood aside and allowed Mai to enter, closing the door behind her.

"Well?" He asked, walking over to the sofa and taking a seat, gesturing for Mai to join him.

"I was wondering if you wanted to finish our earlier conversation."

"That would be welcome."

"It was you." Mai said quickly, before she could overthink it. "It was always you."

"I see." Oliver said. "It's your turn."

"Why did you come back to Japan?"

"I had unfinished business. Will you ever forgive me for what I did?"

"I forgave you a while back." Mai replied. "I cannot hold a grudge really. But I can't trust you." She added apologetically.

"How can I regain your trust?"

"I don't know." Mai said honestly.

"Will you join the case we are taking on Wednesday?"

"I think you've asked more than your fair share."

"Fine, you ask something then."

Mai studied his face. It was not its usual blank self. His mouth kept twitching and Oliver seemed to be struggling to keep himself under control.

"Did you opinion of me change when you found out I had had an abortion?"

"Yes." He nodded. "It was not something I would have thought you would have done. I…" He struggled for words. "The decision must have been tough."

"No, I cannot join your case on Wednesday." Mai replied to his earlier question. "I have my own things to do now." Oliver nodded; it had been the answer that he expected. "Besides, now you won't have to save me."

"I did not mind saving you."

They were staring at each other again. Mai did not want to break the gaze. As if looking away would break some electric connection between them.

Mai knew it was her turn to ask a question, but could not voice the one she most desperately wanted to ask: did you ever have feelings for me?

"I should go." Mai said finally. Oliver looked away.

"Yes, you do not want to be tired tomorrow."

"Trust is earned, not given." Mai said. "It will take time. I'll see you tomorrow."

Oliver watched as she faded away and then slumped back into a lying position on the sofa. He breathed out slowly and tried to calm his racing thoughts.

It had been him.

She had chosen him.

And he had betrayed her trust.

Betrayed perhaps the only woman who would put up with him and love him.

"Idiot scientist." He mumbled, hating how his voice sounded so like that of his brother.

**Author's note: Please review! **


	9. Chapter 9

Tuesday was thoroughly uneventful, bar Monk visiting the office.

Mai had greeted him happily and explained all about the project she and Madoka were working on. Monk had only been there five minutes when Madoka asked Mai to go and make them all some tea.

"Alright." Mai got up and left their little office.

"Monk, I need a favour." Madoka said, as soon as the door closed behind Mai.

"Yes?"

"I know that you and Ayako have some sort of intimate relationship that you think is hidden from the rest of us." Madoka said. "I need you to use your influence over Ayako to get her to back off Mai a bit. Mai explained that Ayako wants to set her up with other guys, Mai does not want this. Can you get her to leave Mai alone a little?"

"As if you aren't trying to set her up with Naru." Monk replied.

"I know they both care for each other." Madoka replied coldly. "But I am not doing anything actively, bar stopping them killing each other."

"And you think that's best for Mai?"

"I think Mai is an adult who can make her own decisions." Madoka said. "Please, ask Ayako to back off."

"If he hurts her, I will hurt him." Monk said threateningly. But Madoka could not reply, as Mai had come back in with the tea.

"Is everything alright?" Mai asked, sensing tension.

"Of course!" Madoka said, and when Mai looked round, both adults were smiling.

The majority of JSPR left for their case on Wednesday morning. Mai and Madoka decided to see the group off.

Ayako and Monk were arguing. John was trying to placate them. Masako was waiting by the car. Lin was checking the equipment in the van. Oliver was checking a map and occasionally sneaking glances at Mai, who was seemingly oblivious.

"Mai!" Ayako shouted. "Tell his idiot that I do not have too much baggage."

"Monk, leave Ayako alone, she needs those bags of makeup otherwise you accuse her of looking like an old hag." Mai teased.

"Mai!" Ayako whined as Monk laughed.

"Can you stop mucking about?" Oliver asked tersely. "I want to get on the road."

Monk, Ayako and John all hugged Mai before climbing into the car. Masako only nodded her head.

"If you want to join us, you are welcome to." A deep voice said from behind Mai.

"I have my own work to do." Mai replied, after turning to face Oliver.

"I know, but Madoka would not mind."

"I suppose, but-"

"Noll, are you coming?" Lin shouted from the van.

"I'll see you when we get back." Oliver said quickly, taking Mai's hand and giving it a quick squeeze before releasing it and walking to the van.

Madoka joined Mai and they waved as the two vehicles off.

Mai felt a strange sense of longing. It felt so odd not going on the case, but watching them leave without her.

"You alright?"

"Yes." Mai replied quickly and turned to walk back into the office.

That evening, Mai had just finished washing up her dinner things when her phone began to ring. She answered it swiftly.

"Mai!" Monk's desperate voice came through the speaker. "You have to come and save us all!"

"Please!" Ayako agreed. Mai guessed she was on speakerphone at the other end when John spoke up too.

"Yes!"

"What's wrong?" Mai asked, concerned.

"It's Naru!" Ayako explained. "He's being a total rotter and a complete slave driver."

Mai laughed.

"It's not funny!" Monk said. "We are currently hiding in a closet just to get away from him. Masako is trying to distract him long enough for us to persuade you to rescue us."

"And how exactly am I going to rescue you all?" Mai asked, amused.

"Well you could come and shout at him for us." Ayako suggested weakly.

"Are you telling me that three grown adults can't stand up to him?"

A creaking sound followed by several intakes of breathe lead Mai to believe that someone had discovered her friends hiding place.

"What exactly are you three doing?" It was Oliver.

"They are hiding from you!" Mai shouted down the phone, hoping he would hear.

"Give that phone here." Oliver said. "And get back to the base, Lin is taking orders for dinner."

Mai could hear grumbling and then the quality of the sound changed; she was no longer on speakerphone.

"Hello?"

"Naru, give them a break and stop being so mean to them."

"I was doing no such thing." Oliver replied. "I merely prevented them from slacking off."

"Slacking off on the first day of a case when I doubt much has even happened yet?" Mai said. "Stop being mean to them."

Mai could practically hear Oliver roll his eyes.

"Don't make me come over there and shout at you." Mai teased.

"You wouldn't know how to get here."

"Don't need to, I could project there right now if I so wanted."

"I wouldn't mind seeing you."

Oliver's words left Mai stunned, but she quickly recovered.

"Does not having someone to insult all the time really affect your ability to work so greatly?"

"No, it just makes the process more enjoyable."

"Jerk."

Mai heard Oliver chuckle, then there was a voice in the background. Mai could not make out what was being said.

"Where?" She heard Oliver said, but knew these words were not aimed at her. "Mai, I have to go." And he hung up. Mai guessed there must have been some activity and tried to ignore the pang of disappointment.

Later that night, once everyone was getting ready for bed and it was only Lin and Oliver left in the base, Lin spoke.

"You should call her back."

"What?" Oliver looked up from his book. "Who?"

"Your mother." Lin deadpanned and rolled his eyes. "Mai of course, who else?"

"Why would I call Mai?"

"Because you've got that thoughtful look plastered all over your face that means you are thinking about her, and you haven't turned a page in the last half an hour." Lin replied. Oliver conceded, Lin had a point.

"Mai is probably asleep."

"Look, Noll, I know about what happened with Mai." Lin started awkwardly.

"What are you talking about?" Oliver asked, frowning. As far as he was aware, Lin could not possibly know.

"Madoka worked it out Noll."

"Worked what out?"

"About what she went through."

"She fell down the stairs." Oliver stuck to the story.

"No she didn't." Lin said annoyed. "We both know Mai had an abortion."

But before Oliver could say anything to this, Lin's eyes went wide with fear, staring behind Oliver. Oliver turned to see Monk, John, Masako and Ayako all walking through the door.

All of them, apart from Ayako, had a stunned look on their faces.

"What did you just say?" Monk demanded of Lin.

"Nothing." Lin replied quickly.

"Mai had an abortion?" Masako repeated quietly.

John was speechless.

Ayako was biting her lip.

"Why are you not all asleep?" Oliver asked angrily.

"Don't change the subject Naru." Monk said stonily. "I want to hear the full story now."

"I am not revealing anything of what Mai may or may not have done."

Monk strode over to Oliver and grabbed the front of his shirt, pulled him to his feet and slammed him into the nearest wall.

"What did you do to her?!" Monk shouted. Lin grabbed Monk, pulled him off Oliver and held him at arm's length. Oliver spluttered slightly before regaining his composure.

"I did nothing to her." He replied.

"It wasn't him." Lin assured Monk.

"I didn't realise Mai was such a slut." Masako said, from behind her sleeve.

"Masako!" John cried, shocked by her use of language.

"Get out." Oliver said angrily. "Pack your things and leave, now." He was glaring at Masako with such intensity it was a wonder she had not burst into flames.

"I'm phoning Mai." Monk said as Masako left with a haughty laugh.

"Don't." Ayako said, finally speaking up. "She didn't want any of you to know."

"You knew?!" Monk said, open-mouthed.

"Of course I knew."

"And you didn't tell me?" He sounded hurt.

"No! It was not my place to say."

"But why didn't she tell me?"

"Probably because she knew exactly how you would react!" Ayako shouted back.

Oliver was grateful that the clients had refused to stay in the house once they had arrived.

"I think it would be best if everyone went to bed." Lin said after a pause. "And I will inform Mai of the changes."

"Goodnight." John said, nodding at them all.

Monk stormed out after him, leaving Ayako standing awkwardly in the doorway.

"So now everyone knows." She said quietly. Ayako let out a long breath.

"Get some sleep Ayako." Oliver said. "I think we are going to need rest before tomorrow."

Ayako nodded and left.

Oliver sank back into the chair he had previously been occupying and Lin pulled out his phone.

The ringing sound woke Mai. She blearily peered at her clock: 11.34.

"Who on earth…" She mumbled and accepted the call.

"Mai, I have some bad news."

"Lin? Is that you? Why are you calling at this time? Most normal people are sleeping at this time you know?" Mai said before Lin's words had fully registered in her brain. "What bad news?"

"They know."

"What?" Mai sat bolt upright.

"The others, it was an accident."

"How?"

"Noll and I were talking and they walked in and they overheard me." He said; the guilt evident in his voice. "I'm sorry Mai."

"Why were you even talking about that?" Mai asked fiercely. "What were their reactions?"

"Monk was angry, John was shocked, Masako called you a slut." Lin listed off.

"I see."

"Noll kicked Masako off the case." Lin said. "Monk was just concerned for you I think."

"Great." Mai couldn't manage any more words. "I'm going to go to sleep."

She did not wait for him to reply, but hung up and fell backwards onto her pillow.

Mai was no longer tired. Her eyes were staring into the inky blackness of her room in shock.

She wanted to cry, but no tears would come. She wanted to scream, but her voice had run off. She wanted to punch something hard, but her arms felt too heavy to move.

Feeling empty, Mai texted Yasuhara and Madoka to inform them that everyone now knew and what their reactions had been according to Lin. Mai suspected that Madoka would know from Lin soon enough, but she sent the text anyway.

Then Mai turned off her alarm for the morning and closed her eyes. Madoka would forgive her for sleeping in.

**Author's note: I know this is a bit short but yeah so shit has hit the fan and I felt so guilty writing this because everything was going so well for Mai and... I'm sorry. Please review!**


	10. Chapter 10

Mai did not make it to the office until noon. Madoka had left her a text saying that she needn't bother coming in at all if she didn't want to, but once Mai was awake, she needed something to do.

However she had not been expecting the office to have a guest sat on the sofa when she arrived.

"Madoka!" Mai called. "We have a…" But Mai trailed off as their guest turned round.

"Hello Mai." Masako said sweetly from behind her sleeve.

Mai closed the office door behind her, took off her coat and hung it up, then moved over to the sofa.

"Hello Masako." She replied, keeping her face neutral. "I would offer you a cup of tea, but then I would have to spend the rest of our conversation refraining from tipping it over you."

"As expected from someone as uncouth as you." Masako said.

Madoka's head appeared from behind the office door.

"I tried to get rid of her Mai." She said.

"No worries, Madoka. I can handle her." Mai said. "What do you want Masako?"

"I just want to have a chat!" Masako replied innocently.

"What about?"

But Masako only giggled. This had the effect of greatly annoying Mai.

"So how many men were you screwing to get yourself in such a situation?" Masako asked finally. Mai saw Madoka start forward, but she raised a hand to halt her progress.

"Does it matter?"

"I was only wondering how much of a slut you really were!" Masako continued, her voice still sickly sweet. "You know he won't want you now. Men don't like girls that sleep around."

"If he doesn't want me because I have slept with other men, then that is his loss, isn't it?" Mai replied, keeping her tone even. "My self-worth is not defined by how many men I may or may not have slept with." Masako scoffed. "To be honest, I think you are jealous, Masako. That I have the freedom to do these things and you don't because your father and the media control your life so rigidly. And as a result you have been brought up to think that sex is bad and that women who have lots of it are consequently bad, despite it being a perfectly natural thing to do." Mai leant forwards and began to whisper. "Do you want to know a secret, Masako? Sex is great. And anyone who thinks less of me for enjoying it can go and fuck themselves."

Masako glared at Mai for a moment, then stood up and stormed towards the door. She turned at the door as if she was going to say something, but Madoka beat her to it.

"Go and tell it to someone who cares Masako."

Masako left.

Mai breathed out slowly.

"Great speech." Madoka said, letting out a gentle laugh. "She had that coming to her."

"I kinda wish I had poured the tea on her."

"That's becoming a habit of yours, huh."

"I thought all good superheros have signature moves?"

Madoka laughed and came to sit down beside Mai. She placed an arm around Mai's shoulders and pulled her into a hug.

"How are you feeling?"

"What if the rest of them feel the same way?" Mai asked. "Monk was angry and John was shocked. That's what Lin said. John is catholic; they are really against abortion, aren't they? Will he hate me? And I don't want Monk to be angry at me."

"And if they are angry or hateful towards you, are they worth knowing?"

"No, but…"

"But it will still hurt." Madoka finished for her. "Come on, let's take the day off."

"And do what?"

"Shop! Of course!" Madoka said. "A little birdy told me that someone suggested to my boyfriend that he should propose…"

"And…?" Mai grinned guiltily.

"Well I just think I should be prepared…"

"You mean he didn't ask?" Mai said exasperatedly.

"I'm half tempted to ask him." Madoka laughed. "Especially if I'm staying here longer now."

And so they did. The two women shopped all afternoon and ate dinner out at a little restaurant.

They were just about to order dessert when Madoka's phone began to ring. She answered it immediately.

"Hey Noll. Hmm, oh that's great. What time?" She listened for a moment. "Yes, she's here. I'll hand you over." She took the phone away from her ear and held it out to Mai. "It's for you."

Reluctantly, Mai took it.

"Hello?"

"We will be arriving back around lunchtime tomorrow, so if you want to leave then, Madoka will not object."

"Why would I want to leave early?"

"To escape awkward questions."

"I appreciate your concern, but avoiding people will not make the problem go away." Mai replied, slightly shocked by Oliver's kindness. "Besides, I'm sure you could glare them all into silence if it gets too bad."

Mai thought she heard Oliver chuckle, but wasn't 100% sure.

"Are you available tomorrow after work?" Oliver asked; his tone even.

"I might be, why?" Mai asked suspiciously; acutely aware of the fact that Madoka was listening into the conversation with interest.

"I… No reason. I better go and make sure those idiots are packing up correctly."

"Naru, what were you going to say?" Mai insisted.

"Goodbye, Mai." And he hung up.

"That arse." Mai cursed loudly, and then remembered she was in a restaurant and lowered her voice.

"What did he say?"

"What didn't he say?!" Mai replied furiously. "I swear he does this just to aggravate me."

"He does." Madoka agreed. "Because he likes the attention you then give him."

"He likes me being annoyed at him?!" Mai asked incredulously.

"No, he just likes the attention and it's a sure-fire way for him to get it."

"Or he could just be nice to me."

"And admit that he is in love with you? I thought you understood him better than that." Madoka said with a wry smile.

"Madoka!" Mai protested. "He is not in love with me."

Madoka only rolled her eyes.

Oliver would not admit that he was worried for Mai's sake when they arrived back at the office the following day.

Yet Mai and Madoka were waiting to greet them.

Oliver watched as Monk rushed out of his hastily parked car to hug Mai and badger her with questions. He watched as Mai brushed off Monk's questions and hugged Ayako and John in turn. Madoka greeted Lin enthusiastically.

And Oliver stood alone by the van; watching.

Then he saw Mai's eyes flick to him and then back to Monk, who was still asking questions. She had not looked pleased to see him. Perhaps confused.

"Monk, John, help Lin move the equipment." Oliver interrupted the frivolities and grabbed a box himself before heading straight into the office.

Once everything had been brought up, checked and put away, Mai made a large pot of tea and they listened as Monk regaled them with a retelling of the case.

Oliver joined them, mainly for the tea, and occasionally corrected Monk's tendencies to over exaggerate things. He could feel Mai's eyes flicking to him every now and then, and wondered if she was still thinking over his words from the previous night.

He had planned to ask her to dinner at his place. So they could continue their game of questions.

But nerves had gotten the better of him.

Nerves.

He, Oliver Davis, had become too nervous to speak his mind.

When – ever – did that happen to him? Of all people?

He was angry at his own incompetence.

And would rectify it as the soonest possible moment.

Once the others were out of the way. And he and Mai were alone, just in case she said no.

What if she did say no? What if she refused his offer? But that would make no sense. Had she not said that it had been him all along? That it had never been Gene.

But hadn't she also said that she had been sleeping with strangers to try and get over someone. Had that someone been him?

"Naru, are you alright?" Monk was staring at him, as was everyone else. Oliver had not realised he had been glaring at a point on the floor with a furious frown upon his face.

"Of course. Don't you people have places to be? This office is not a coffee shop." Oliver said as he returned swiftly to his office.

After closing the door behind him, Oliver learned against it and sighed.

Mai had been put through that ordeal because of her attempts to get over him. So did she no longer want him?

Was he too late?

He had to know. Not knowing was almost worse than the idea that he was too late. He needed an excuse to speak to her now.

Oliver pressed an ear to the door and listened carefully. The others were saying their farewells. Once he was quite sure they were gone, Oliver slipped out of his office, ignored the glance from Lin and walked confidently to Mai and Madoka's office.

He knocked before sticking his head around the door.

"Mai, can I have a word? It's about your bank details."

"What about them?" Mai looked concerned.

"I was updating your pay and the system is having an issue. I want to check that the details are correct."

"Okay, I'll just grab my purse." Mai rummaged through her bag and pulled out her purse. "Sorry Madoka, back in a minute."

Mai followed Oliver back to his office.

"Close the door." He muttered and Mai obliged him.

"So what's wrong with the details?"

"Nothing, I just needed to talk to you without Madoka making a fuss."

"Oh." Mai's face relaxed. "You are, of course, assuming that she is not listening at the door."

"She won't be. She has tried it before and it did not end up well for her."

"I don't want to know." Mai mumbled. "What did you want to ask me?"

"Before, you said you were trying to get over someone when you slept with those men." Oliver said, and Mai nodded. "You also said that it had never been Gene. That it had been me, all along." Mai nodded again. "Were you trying to get over me?"

Mai nodded for a third time and then looked away from Oliver.

"Sorry." She muttered.

"Why are you sorry?" Oliver asked, but continued before Mai could answer. "Do you still want to get over me?"

"I have to." Mai replied quickly. "You have no interest in me and I have to stop kidding myself that something might happen." It pained her to say these words.

"You really are an idiot aren't you?" Oliver said, and he cupped her chin with his fingers, so that she looked back up at him with tears in her eyes.

Gently, ever so gently, Oliver wiped away a stray tear.

"I care for you more than I want to admit." He whispered, scared of speaking his own feelings too loudly. "The fear of losing you has forced me to realise this Mai. I know you don't trust me right now, but I will fix that."

"Stop." Mai whispered and Oliver faltered. He backed away slightly and let his hand fall to his side. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you care?" She asked in an almost accusatory tone.

"About you?" Oliver frowned. "Because you stand up to me, you aren't afraid to speak your mind to me. Because to you, I am Naru, not Dr Oliver Davis. Because you are so willing to learn. Because you're kind and good and polite and everything I am not. And…" Oliver chuckled lightly. "And because you make damn good tea."

"You are kind." Mai whispered back, tears now streaming down her face. "In your own demented kind of way."

"Thank you." Oliver said, and Mai's mouth fell open slightly, which made him smirk. "So what do you say?"

Mai looked up and studied Oliver's face. If she hadn't been entirely convinced that he was incapable of the emotion, she would have guess he was nervous.

"Make me dinner and we'll see how it goes." Mai replied finally and she wiped her eyes. "Think of it as a test, if you like."

"I should warn you, I don't intend to fail."

**Author's note: I hope this does not disappoint! Please review :)**


	11. Chapter 11

Lin was mildly suspicious when Oliver came out of his office around 4pm and told him that if he wanted to leave early with Madoka, then that was absolutely fine, as he knew they had not had much time together lately.

"And Mai was right; you should hurry up and propose." Oliver finished as headed back into his office.

Lin glared momentarily at the back of Oliver's head and then packed away his things. He was not going to turn down a chance to head home early.

Once packed up, he knocked on Madoka and Mai's office door and stuck his head through.

"Madoka? Oliver said I can go home early if you want to join me?" He asked.

"That's a great idea." Mai said immediately. "We are not getting anywhere with this, let's start again on Monday."

Mai's quick response increased Lin's suspicions, but he did not say anything.

"Sure…" Madoka agreed and began to pack up her stuff. She left the office a few minutes later giving Mai one final amused look. Mai finished scribbling down the last of the notes they were making and began packing up her own things.

However, before she was finished, Oliver popped his head through the door.

"Ready?"

"Almost." Mai said, smirking slightly. "Nice plan to get rid of Madoka and Lin, I am sure they aren't suspicious at all."

"What would they have to be suspicious of?"

"Something happening between us."

"What is wrong with that?" Oliver asked seriously.

"You won't be on the blunt end of the teasing." Mai complained.

"You think so?"

"Of course, you just silence them with a look."

"If word got back to my mother that I even so much as looked at a female, I would never get any sleep for all of the phone calls I would receive from her." Oliver pointed out dryly. "I would rather have Monk and Ayako attempt to tease me."

"Your mother would be easier to deal with." Mai replied, laughing.

"If you are under that delusion, then you have not spent enough time with my mother."

"Well you could just turn your phone on silent."

"Then she would fly over here."

"Or you could hand the phone to me." Mai suggested, not looking at him.

"You would talk to her?" He asked, somewhat incredulously.

"Of course!" Mai laughed again, picked up her bag and turned to face him.

"You realise that she would have planned the wedding and named the grandchildren before the conversation was over?"

"Unlike some people, I can deal with other people's excitement."

"I can deal with excitement." Oliver said, frowning as he held the door open for Mai. "Just not about stupid things." Mai rolled her eyes.

"Besides, she might have some good suggestions." Mai said off-handedly.

This caused Oliver to roll his eyes.

Together they headed out of the office; Oliver locked up and led Mai down to his car.

Mai would have been lying through her teeth to say she wasn't a little nervous. They drove in silence back to Oliver's apartment.

Once inside, Oliver kicked off his shoes and turned on some soft classical music.

"I would offer to make you tea, but I can promise you that it would not taste good."

"You made me tea before, on the Urado case, that tasted fine!" Mai replied.

"Lin made that." Oliver admitted. "It was my idea, but he's tasted my attempt at tea."

"How on earth do you screw up tea?" Mai asked, laughing softly.

"I have no idea."

"Wow, the great Oliver Davis doesn't know something." Mai teased.

"I think you'll find my track record for not knowing things is still a lot better than yours."

"Jerk." Mai muttered and joined him in the open plan kitchen. "I'll make some tea then shall I?"

"That would be welcome."

Mai busied herself with making tea as Oliver began rummaging for food.

"Do you have any preference on what we eat?" He asked.

"Not really, but if you can't make tea, should I worry about your cooking?"

"Incompetent as I may be in brewing tea, my cooking is fine." Oliver replied. "I have yet to poison anyone."

"Reassuring." Mai muttered quietly.

"It should be, Gene once gave us all food poisoning."

"How?"

"Undercooked chicken." Mai giggled and took a seat at the table as Oliver began cutting up vegetables. "In case you are concerned, there will be no chicken in this dish."

"What are you making?" Mai asked, and Oliver looked up from the chopping board. He frowned.

"Good point." Oliver put down the knife and disappeared off into another room. Mai frowned after him, but he returned a moment later with a red handkerchief.

"What are you…?" Mai began, but Oliver threw the fabric over her eyes and tied a knot behind her head.

"It will be a surprise." He said by way of an explanation. Then, much to Mai's surprise, Oliver lifted her from the chair and carried her to the sofa. Gently, he placed her down and then returned to the kitchen. "Just so you don't fall off the chair." He said and though Mai could not see his face, she knew he was smirking.

"You know I could get out of this easily? In fact I could peak without even removing the blindfold."

"That would be using your abilities unfairly." Oliver replied. "And if you want to play at that game, I will win."

Mai pouted at him, but before she could retort Oliver asked her about her work. Distracted, Mai began a detailed account of the plans she and Madoka had been making. Oliver listened with professional interest and made a few suggestions of his own.

Once he had put their dinner into the oven to cook, he joined Mai on the sofa.

"Dinner will be about 40 minutes." He said.

"Can I take this off now?" Mai asked, indicating the blindfold.

"I don't think so."

Mai began to glare at Oliver, and then remembered that he couldn't see her eyes and she pouted.

"You better not be smirking at me."

"As if you'd know if I was." Oliver replied lightly. "Would you like to continue our game?"

"Okay." Mai answered, slightly disarmed by the sudden question. "Tell me a secret."

"A secret?"

"Yeah, any secret."

"On the Urado case, after you had the dream where you died…" Oliver started, and Mai shivered at the very thought. "I brought you tea."

"That Lin made."

"That Lin made." Oliver agreed. "It was because when I was younger and saw similar things, afterwards Gene would always bring me tea. The smell grounded me again."

Mai couldn't help but smile. It was not joyful, if anything it was rather sad, but it made her smile all the same.

"Thank you." She said after a pause.

"I'm just glad it helped." Oliver said and Mai smiled more. "Otherwise you would have been more useless." Mai scowled.

"Jerk."

They continued talking until a timer went off. Oliver served up two plates of hot steaming food and guided Mai to her chair.

Finally, he took the blindfold off and she stared down at her food.

It looked weird. It definitely was not Japanese food. There seemed to be layers of vegetables in a tomato sauces between sheets of Mai guessed to be pasta and a white sauce.

Oliver handed her a knife and fork.

"What is it?"

"Vegetable lasagne. It's Italian." Oliver replied. "I figured soon as you have agreed to speak with my mother, you ought to assimilate to eating the sort of food she'd cook."

"Or you just wanted to watch me suffer with knives and forks." Mai took a knife in one hand and a fork in the other and began stabbing at her food. She focused her gaze on the food as to not see Oliver's smirk.

After a little effort she managed to stab a piece of lasagne away from the rest and scooped it into her mouth.

"You know, if this could be eaten with chopsticks, it'd be pretty good!" Mai said and began to hack away at her lasagne again.

"I wonder sometimes if you are thick on purpose." Oliver muttered and got up from his seat, walked around the table and leant around Mai. "Here, like this."

He guided her hands into the correct position and showed her how to use the utensils.

Mai was very conscious of his body around her and she could feel her heart beating faster.

"Try now." He said softly. Oliver released his grip on Mai's hands and she faltered for a second before attempting once again to eat her dinner. However this time, she was not only more successful, but somewhat more elegant.

Oliver retook his seat and began eating.

"Thank you." Mai said. "Do you really want me to meet your parents?"

"Of course." Oliver replied. "Then whenever my mother wants to chat, you can talk to her and I don't have to put up with idle waffling."

"So not really because you care about their opinion of me?"

"Why would I care about their opinion of you?" Oliver asked.

"Because they are your parents."

"So?" Oliver raised an eyebrow at Mai. "I like your company; their opinion is irrelevant."

Mai frowned at that, but she thought that was somehow a compliment, and continued eating until she noticed something.

"You are using your knife and fork in the other hand."

"Yes." Oliver agreed. "I am."

"Does it matter which way you use them?" Mai asked curiously.

"Not particularly, you are using them the way most right-handed people would use them."

"But you are not left-handed?"

"No, Gene was." But at the confused look on Mai's face, Oliver elaborated. "Often, in school, we would switch classes. If I had a free period and Gene did not want to attend his class, I would take it for him and vice versa. As a result, we both learned to write with the other hand. Eating like this is just a habit; I can switch without a problem."

"That's cute." Mai replied. "Though shame on you for missing lessons."

"As if you can talk."

"I only missed class for cases with SPR!" Mai complained.

"And I only missed them when I was working on paranormal research."

"So we were kind of the same at school then." Mai teased, as if she could somehow compare to the great Oliver Davis.

"Perhaps, not so different." Oliver said quietly, which shocked Mai; where was the insult? "Though perhaps on slightly different levels." There it is.

"Hey! My marks weren't bad at all!" Mai pouted. "I was way above average in everything except…"

"English." Oliver interrupted. "Of which you scored exactly the class average and you were only just above average in art."

"As if art even matters." Mai scowled; though she did not know if she should feel flattered that he knew her scores so well, or slightly creeped out.

"Gene would have disagreed." Oliver said. "He loved art lessons and throwing paint everywhere. He liked making me go to them pretending to be him and doing the same thing." Mai laughed.

"Which was your favourite lesson?" Mai asked.

"I valued the sciences more obviously. But had a soft spot for literature."

"Really?" Mai asked, surprised.

"Yes. In case you had not noticed, I often read. And literature is the study of books; utilising analytic skills on something other than scientific results."

"I never thought you read anything other than textbooks…" Mai mumbled.

"Earlier I mentioned Gene bringing me tea after psychometric visions involving death, remember?" Mai nodded. "He used to say it was similar to chocolate for dementors."

"Dementors?"

"Have you not read Harry Potter? I was sure it had been translated into most languages." Oliver said, but Mai shook her head. "There are creatures called dementors in these books that represent depression. Chocolate was used to make the character feel better after encountering one."

"Are they real?"

"Dementors? No, thankfully." Oliver said, and then smirked. "As a muggle like yourself would not be able to see them."

"Muggle?" Mai asked, nonplussed, yet Oliver only smirked further.

And so they talked and talked. Only when it passed 11pm did Oliver offer to drive Mai home.

He walked her up to her apartment door to ensure her safety and waited as she unlocked her door.

"You know, when you first came to Japan, you never really smiled." Mai said from her doorway. "One a few of your smiles were genuine. But since you came back, or rather since you found Gene's body, you've smiled more. Mostly when you think no one is looking; but I am glad. Even if you don't want anyone to see, I am glad you are smiling more."

"Thank you." Oliver replied, then leant down and kissed Mai's cheek. "So have I passed this test of yours?" Mai smiled and considered for a moment.

"B-, definite room for improvement, but not a bad attempt."

"B-?" Oliver asked incredulously. "I think that is the worst mark I have ever received on anything."

"Well I shall give you an opportunity to improve your mark if you like." Mai grinned. "Same time next week?" Mai asked, smirking.

"Fine." Oliver scowled. "Goodnight Mai."

"Goodnight, Naru."

**Author's note: So this is the penultimate chapter. The next one will be a '5 years later' chapter which I hope to write tomorrow! I hope you all enjoy this and please review!**


	12. Chapter 12

5 years later…

It had become some sort of demented inside joke between Mai and Oliver that whenever she wanted time off or couldn't do something, she would provide him with a letter from her doctor with a distinct lack of details as to why. Oliver had no idea how she had gotten her doctor to agree to play such tricks on him. The whole thing was nonsense really as Madoka was really her boss. But he would then have to spend the next few days wheedling information out of her as to why she needed the time off.

So far she had used it for when she had received her degree, and for her doctorate based on the research she had started all those years ago. She had even used it for her Hen night.

But when Oliver's wife walked into his office at around 11am on a Monday morning clutching a letter in her hands, he was put off slightly. Mai had genuinely been sick for the last week or so and as a result, Oliver did not know if this would be another silly little thing or a genuine problem.

Without speaking so much as a word, Mai handed him the letter and he sighed. Oliver slit the envelope open and glanced over the contents.

"You cannot come on cases for the next year? And will want time off in approximately six months?" He asked sceptically. Mai and Madoka had often joined the rest of SPR on bigger cases if their own work allowed. "I did not think your current research would require so much extra time."

"It won't." Mai said and it concerned Oliver that she was not smiling at all. She looked, if anything slightly worried. "Go on, use psychometry."

Even more puzzled by this, Oliver sat back in his chair and gripped the piece of paper.

Mai watched as her husband went limp in the chair. She could see his eyes moving rapidly under their lids and she waited with baited breath.

Eventually his eyes opened and met her gaze.

"Really?" He asked in a low voice and she nodded mutely. Oliver stood up from his chair and strode around the desk still clutching the letter. He took Mai in his arms and held her tight.

"Are you angry?" She whispered.

"Why on earth would I be angry?" He replied. His wife really did ask some stupid questions sometimes.

"I don't know just…" Mai pushed away slightly so she could look up at him. "Are you crying?" She asked incredulously.

"No." Oliver replied quickly. But Mai had already reached a hand up and wiped away a tear. She raised an eyebrow at him. "Dust in my eye." He explained away.

"I don't think I've ever seen you cry." Mai commented. "Have you ever cried?"

"I'm not crying." Oliver repeated coldly and pulled Mai back into a tighter embrace. "And for your information, my eyes became somewhat watery when I first saw you in your wedding dress. But I did not cry."

Mai giggled against his chest.

"Just like you are not crying now?" She teased.

"Exactly."

They stood like that in silence for a few minutes.

"Who's telling the others?" Mai asked.

"You are telling my mother." Oliver replied. "I don't care about the others, though if we tell my mother first, she might tell the entire world for us." Mai giggled again. "And you better tell Monk."

"Why?"

"Last time he thought I'd got you pregnant, he tried to kill me."

"I distinctly remember those being slightly difference circumstances. But who exactly do you want to tell?"

"I'll tell my father and Lin. You can deal with the rest." Oliver said.

"Chicken."

"Well you can tell everyone if you want to."

Mai scowled, but agreed.

"I better start helping you with your English too."

"My English is fine!" Mai complained.

"_Well I plan on making this child bilingual, so unless you want us talking about you in another language…_"

It took Mai a few moments to translate what he had said.

"_She will like me more._" Mai retorted.

"She?" Oliver asked, frowning. "You already know?"

"Just my intuition speaking." Mai smiled and Oliver returned it before glancing at the time.

"How about I take you and our daughter to lunch then?" He offered.

"Yes, we need to discuss who the godparents are going to be…" Mai said. "And I have this weird craving for wasabi and mango with crisps." Oliver sighed in an amused sort of way.

"Well it is certainly not going to be any of these idiots…" He held opened his office door for Mai and together, they left the building.

**Author's note: Well this is the final chapter! I hoped you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please leave me a review because it will make me very happy! And if you enjoyed my writing, don't hesitate to check out my other stories! Thank you :)**


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